


Periodicity

by HomuraBakura



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angel/Demon AU, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Reincarnation, Star-crossed, Tragic Romance, ghost au, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-04 11:49:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14019603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomuraBakura/pseuds/HomuraBakura
Summary: We keep crossing paths, we keep touching souls....we keep missing each other.  I'm starting to wonder if our love is cursed.Don't worry, my love, even if it's a curse, I'll reach for you anyway.for ZarcRay Week 2018





	1. Curse One: Captivity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Captive
> 
> Ray is an angel. Zarc is the demon they've imprisoned. Ray will rescue him, but she has an unorthodox request.

_Oh,_ she thinks, her breath catching in her throat.   _He’s beautiful._

“It’s been tired out,” she hears the guard say to his companion, sniffing as he taps the bars with the edge of his lance.  “Finally. I thought it would never stop screaming.”

Ray’s stomach twists.  She feels a nervous anger bubbling in her stomach, but she keeps herself folded into the alcove overhead, looking down at the cage below.

He looks exhausted.  His whole body slumps against his chains, hanging limply in the middle of the tight cage that locks him in.  And even then, he is beautiful. Thick, pearly scales the color of molten silver cover every inch of him, shimmering in the light of heaven outside when he breathes.  When the light catches his scales, they send a rainbow of colors down on the floor around him. Gossamer wings hang limp from his back, thin and yet somehow also strong, like a bat’s, or a dragons.  His silver hair is edged with hints of spring green, like grass in a field of ash. It is long, bedraggled, likely from the struggle to contain him.

As though he can sense her watching him, his eyes suddenly look up.  Lovely golden eyes, in such stark contrast to the silver rest of him, catch across hers, and for just a moment, she is captive.

His eyes drop away just as quickly, and she’s not sure he saw her at all.  But her heart hammers and she feels a sweat running down her back.

The second guard stares at him instead, until his companion grabs him by the shoulder and shakes him.

“Remember what we were told,” he says.  “Do not look into his eyes. He’ll bewitch you.”

 _Can demons really do that?_ Ray thinks.  

She knows the stories, of course.  The Old War is required curriculum, and had been ever since she was a fledgeling.  They treaded that war over and over in every history class she had ever taken. Demons: terrifying, eternal enemies of the angel kingdom.  Horrifyingly beautiful, if they caught your gaze, you’d be trapped, seducing you into coming closer where they could break your neck or drink your blood dry, or worse, turn you into their puppet to fight against your fellows.  

This is the first real demon she has seen, and she’s not sure what to make of him in comparison to her textbooks.  He’s beautiful, to be sure, but he doesn’t look dangerous. He is chained and muzzled and caged. And he looks tired.  Limp.

She feels dirty, looking at him.  She squirms, and forces herself to stay quiet.

The guards shake their heads at each other, and take up their places on either side of his cage, settling in for their long shift.

Ray counts the minutes.  It’s agonizing. But she can’t start too early or they’ll be suspicious.

As soon as one of them yawns, that’s when she takes action.

Her mind reaches out gently, softly, twisting around the closest guard.  She impresses on him the _urgent_ need to take a piss.  His face twists suddenly, lips curving down.  Carefully, she twists her mind a little tighter, inserting the thought more insistently.

He growls to himself.

“I’ll be right back,” he says.

The other guard just nods and waves sleepily, and then the other storms off.  That should give her at least ten minutes. She takes the other guard, next, grabbing hold of the sleepiness he already feels and encouraging him to give that sleep more attention.

In a few moments, he is dozing on his feet, leaning against the pillar.  Perfect.

Ray unfolds herself from her alcove.  Her two pairs of wings unfurl from her back, along with her third, not yet fully developed pair.  She uses them to catch the air on the way down to the ground, landing silently.

The demon looks up at her approach, and surprise flickers over his dead eyes.

She walks barefoot across the marble to him, pressing her face against the bars.

“Hello,” she whispers.

He doesn’t respond.  Of course he doesn’t, his mouth is sealed with a heavy metal muzzle.  Up close, however, she can see that he’s not much bigger than she is. His wings are significantly longer, but the rest of him is about her size.  Her age, if she can guess the age of a demon.

 _What does she want,_ she hears him think irritably.

“I wanted to talk to you.”

He startles, eyes opening wide.  She winces apologectically.

“I can’t hear all of your thoughts.  Just the ones you’re putting attention behind.”

She’s responded to his thoughts before he fully formed them, and he stares at her wide-eyed.

 _What do you want?_ he thinks, sounding angry.   _Come to ogle me?_

“I wanted to meet you.  I’ve never met a demon before.”

_Well great, princess, glad I could cross that off your bucket list._

She decides not to take his ire personally.  He is, of course, locked up pretty tightly, and he has no reason to love angels.  

She catches his eyes, and despite the stories, does not let his gaze go.

He would have plenty of time to seduce her, she thinks, into letting him go.  But if he has that power, he does not make use of it.

 _What do you really want?_ he asks, softer this time.

“The truth,” Ray says.  “They told us you attacked one of our border villages.  That you killed people.”

She tosses one pigtail over her shoulder.

“Is it true?”

He watches her for a long moment.

 _It sounds like you already know your own answer,_ he says.

“I want to hear it from you.”

Again, his eyes hold hers.  He shifts against his chains.

_I didn’t attack anyone.  I crossed the border, I know that’s illegal, but it wasn’t for that.  My...my dragons. One of their babies was being curious. I knew I was keeping them too close to the border, but it got away.  I had to cross, I had to bring it home..._

He trails off, and that defeated look creeps into his eyes again.

 _I just want to go home_ , he thinks, and she hears the crack.   _I want to go home to my dragons._

Ray’s hands tighten around the bars.  She hears the sounds of the guard coming back, and the other stirring.  She is out of time.

“What if I told you I could get you out?” she whispers hurriedly.  “That I can help you find your baby dragon and I can get you out?”

He stares at her, incredulous.

_And what do you want in return for that, princess?_

“Get me out of here.  Please.”

_Get you...what the hell are you talking about?_

“Demons know how to get their souls out, I’ve heard they know.  I want to reincarnate. I want to be a human.”

His eyes are bulging at her now, and his shock is skittering down her arms.

“I need to get out of here,” she whispers, desperately.  “Please.”

The guard comes back around the corner, mumbling softly.  She’s not quite quick enough for his eyes to miss her.

“Hey!” the guard says, eyes flashing.  “Your Highness, you know you’re not allowed here!!  Get back to the palace!”

Ray bolts— but not before she lets her hand trail briefly against the bars.

 _My name is Ray_ , she sends to him through her mind link.   _And regardless if you’ll help me, I’ll get you home.  I’ll be back tonight. Before your trial._

She flees before she can sense an answer from him, and runs from the hands of guards ready to trundle her back to the palace.  She can’t go back. She won’t go back again.

Instead, she has plans to make.

~

She can’t tell if he’s surprised or not when she comes back for him.  She has to be a little more creative with the guards this time. She puts into one of their heads that there is a sound outside that he needs to investigate immediately.  The other, she laces with a paranoia that makes him fear the dark by herself. She hurries just outside the prison hall to see if the other guard needs help investigating.  Then she drops down once again and approaches the cage.

 _You have really good timing_ , he says while she fits the key into the lock.

“I make my own timing.”

The cage opens easily.  His chains will be harder.  They are celestial-forged, made with the intent of holding.  Only the person who put them on him can remove them.

But even inanimate things have a mind of their own, and after stroking the chains and whispering to them, cajoling, she has convinced them that she is the person who put the chains on him in the first place.  They fall away from his hands silently, and he slumps forward with a shock.

She removes his muzzle, next, heart hammering.  She has no idea how much time she has, and she is sweating again.  She twitches and wrings her hands while he tries to get his bearings, gasping and rubbing at his jaw.

His beautiful eyes raise to hers again, considering her with wariness.

“Are you sure about this?”

A voice is different from thoughts.  She is surprised by how normal he sounds.  Like every other angel she has ever known.

“Sure about freeing you?  Yes,” she says.

“If this is a trap...”

“Why would it be a trap?  We already had you captive.”

He grimaces.  Fair enough, he is thinking.

“But why?” he says.  “I haven’t promised I’ll help you.”

She just smiles, her wings folding against her.

“You’d be dead tomorrow,” she whispers.

His body stiffens.  His claws dig into the floor, and then he pushes himself to his feet, crawling out of the cage.  She follows.

“You said there’d be a trial,” he says.

“You’re a demon, and you believe that the angels would hold a fair trial for you?”

“Why are you doing this?” he says.

Desperation.  That’s what he feels like.  He’s frantic, nervous, eyes darting around for an exit, not sure if he can look at her.  Ray clasps her hands behind her and smiles again.

“Because I can’t free myself while leaving others behind.”

His eyes find hers again.

“What are you running from, princess?” he whispers.  “You are a princess, aren’t you? I was just guessing, based on your entitlement.”

She would laugh if she wasn’t worried about the guards coming to find them.  She takes his arm by the elbow and hurries him towards her secret entrance. Once the door is open, she pushes him to start crawling in.

As soon as she is inside and following, and her door is closed, she hears a trumpet blowing.  They’ve found the empty cage.

“Yes,” she whispers into the tunnel.  It’s so dark that she can’t even see him ahead of her, only hear him.  “I’m a princess. I’m Ray, last of the line of Seraphs.”

She hears his thoughts swearing up a storm.  He knows the Seraphs. The highest angel family in the kingdom, the ones who led the war against the demons in the first place.

“And _you’re_ helping _me_ escape?” he calls back.

She hears him knock into the door and swear.

“It opens from the left,” she offers.  

He pushes it open and the moonlight finally courses through.  He crawls free, and she crawls after him. She is surprised when he reaches back to help her to her feet.

His hand is warm, she finds with surprise.  Not cold or slippery, like his scales implied.

The moon glitters down across the sea, sending silver up with the spray.  She feels a faint mist reach them at the bluff, but they’re high enough to miss most of it.  She doesn’t let go of his hand and leads him towards the path up the cliffs.

“Why are you doing this?” he whispers.

The third time he’s asked.  Perhaps he deserves an answer.  She keeps walking.

“I’m going to die,” she says.

“What?”

He snorts with disbelief.

“You’re an angel— not to mention, you’re a _Seraph_.  You’ll live forever.”

“Not if I’m executed.”

“You’re a Seraph!  A Seraph Princess!”

She lets go of his hand, wandering to a stop.  It’s quiet out here. Beneath the stars, between the mountains and the sea, she is, for just a moment, completely free.

She turns to look down at him.

In the moonlight, he is even more beautiful than before.  The moon turns him molten, like precious jewelry, his eyes the color of the sky on fire at sunrise.  There is wariness and fascination there, and she is drawn to him. Perhaps he is seducing her.

“You know how your guards were gone when I needed them to be?” she says.  “My timing?”

He nods slowly.

“I made it happen.  I touched their minds.  I made them feel things that got them to leave.  Remember how I heard your thoughts?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Those aren’t angel powers.  No one else can do what I do.”

“So?”

She tilts her head at him.  He looks genuinely confused.

“Mind molding,” she says softly.  “It’s a demon power.”

He actually laughs, his voice rolling into the waves below.

“Demon powers??  Who told you that?  We can’t do anything like _that_.”

She’s briefly surprised, but then again...part of her expected as much.

“Do you think that matters to the propagandists?” she says.

His laughter subsides.  His eyes glitter at her in the dark, like an animal’s.

“You think they’ll find out,” he says softly.

“They already suspect.  Have since I was a child.”

“Your family wouldn’t kill you.”

“You’ve never met a Seraph before, have you?”

He looks down at the rocks.  They both fall silent.

“Why don’t you run away?” he asks.  “I mean. I can’t take you home with me, even if I wanted to.  The Seraphs would probably rip my home to shreds looking for you, thinking I’d kidnapped you.”

“There’s nowhere in this plane I can go that they couldn’t find me,” Ray says.  “As long as I’m an angel soul, they can feel me, and find me. That’s why I have to become human.”

He grimaces.  His fangs are white against the dark.

“Why are you trying so hard?  Why not just hide your powers?  Not use them? Being a human sounds like a goddamn pain in the ass.  You don’t get to fly, or anything.”

Ray lets her shoulders slump, and closes her eyes.  Only the ocean, and the faraway cry of birds fills her ears.

“I want to live,” she whispers.  Her voice trembles. “I want to _live_ .  I want to be able to run and scream and sing and just _live_ , without a target on my back, without fear in my heart.  I want to live. I want to feel the earth and taste the wind and feel my muscles aching and hear the world turning.”

She feels herself lightening the more she talks, and when her eyes open, she is certain she is beaming.

“I want to live,” she says again.  “ _Really_ live.”

His lips part and he stares at her.  With what? Awe? Shock? She’s so full of her own emotions right now that she can’t sense his.  She reaches out a hand towards him.

“Well?” she says.  “Let’s get you home, at least.  I’ve already found and sent your dragon back across the border, don’t worry.”

He stares at her hand.  He stares at her. A faint smile graces his lips.

“You’re something, princess,” he says.

He reaches for her hand.

A light explodes over the cliff.  Ray throws her hands over her eyes and she screams.  She hears trumpets, shouting, the flurry of wings all coming down all around her.  She hears the twang of bows.

 _He’ll die_ , she thinks.

She moves.

~

The first thing he realizes is that there is a warmth blossoming over his chest.  The second thing he realizes is that it’s not his blood.

Ray slumps backwards.  He grabs her, goes down to one knee.

“Ray?  Hey! Ray!!  Hey, look at me!”

Her head slumps against his side.  There’s— oh, fuck, there is an arrow in her chest.  Blood stains her white dress, seeping into his hands as he presses down around it.  There’s an arrow in her shoulder, and in her stomach, too, she threw herself in front of him so _quickly_ —

She coughs and blood comes up through her lips.  Her hands flop against her uselessly, tears flooding her arms.  She’s mumbling, something he can’t here.

“Ray, don’t talk, hey!  Don’t talk, you’re losing blood, you’re— ”

“Stand down, you insolent demon, release that traitor and give yourself up!”

Zarc ignores the shouting angels.  He holds her as tight as he can, trying to hold the blood back.

“Ray!  Ray!”

Her eyes bubble with more tears, head slumping in the crook of his neck.

“I want to live,” she mumbles.  Oh fuck. “I want...I want to...I want to live...want to...”

“Ray!   _Ray!”_

Hands grab him, trying to drag him off of her.  He snarls and slashes with his claws and he feels blood and hears screams.

He doesn’t know her.  He doesn’t know this stupid princess angel who risked her life for him.  The girl who just wants to live.

“Ray, look at me,” he gasps.  “Look at me.”

She tries to turn her face towards him.

“You have to focus.  I’m going to do it. I’m going to get you out.  Think it to me if you have to. Think about how much you want to live.”

Her voice in his head is just as weak.

_I want...I want to live..._

“Say your name, you have to say your name to me, we have to make the spell work.”

Hands grab him again and haul him back, but he roars and clings to her.

“Ray,” she gasps.  “I’m...Ray...”

He presses her against him, eyes blurring over with tears.

“I’m Zarc,” he gasps.  “And I release you.”

He gets his face down and presses his lips to hers.

For just a moment, he tastes the warm, cherry-strawberry taste of her soul.  It warms his lips, tempts him to consume it.

And then he releases it.

Ray’s body goes limp and gray in his arms.  He releases her— releases it. It’s not Ray anymore.

She got away.

She got away.

He laughs, slumping in his captors hands while what was Ray’s body crumbles into ash.

“She got away!” he laughs at them.  “She got away, you bastards, she got away from you!  Go, Ray, run, live, you got away!”

He chokes on his own blood when the spear pierces his heart and twists down into his stomach.  Wild angel eyes glow at him, bright blue in the dark, an angry, shining face of Seraphic beauty, and he grins at him through the blood.

“You garbage, disgusting demon!” the angel spits into his face.

The spear twists through him and Zarc chokes again.  A hand grasps his face and his vision blacks out.

He hears only one last thing before everything ends.

“I curse you, vile demon— your soul will follow her traitorous soul.  You’ll live lives of horror and suffering. You chose to help each other, so now you will each be the reason for the other’s suffering, unless by some miracle your souls catch each other’s again.”

He felt the soul in his body crack and splinter from its vessel, and then everything was over.


	2. Curse Two: In Front of Me, Yet Out of Reach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Seasons
> 
> Zarc lives among the volcanoes; he'll freeze and die if he's too far from his warm home for long. Ray is Winterfolk, and she'll melt if she doesn't leave with winter each year.
> 
> It's a curse to love someone that you can't even touch.

She was waiting for between the edges of spring and winter, where she always did, ankle deep in one of the last banks of snow.

“Zarc,” she breathed, and he felt his heart twist and leap at the sound of his name on her voice.

“Happy spring,” he said with a smile.

She smiled at him with a brilliance that even the sparkling snow couldn’t match, and he felt his whole body heat up.  He tamped it down before he began to spurt flames. He was already burning the grass as it was.

He edged carefully towards her.  His ambient heat scorched and killed the new grass every step he took, and he tried not to burn any of the flowers until he was across from her.  She smiled again, and he felt his heart doing flip flops.

“I missed you,” he said.

“I missed you more,” she said.  “Spring never comes soon enough.”

“And it never lasts long enough.”

He was a little too close.  Her bank of snow was starting to melt near his feet.  He edged backwards, just a little bit.

“How are you doing?” he asked.

Her smile turned bland.

“Sorry.  Stupid question.  I just...I guess I worry about you a lot.”

“About me?  You’re the one who you need to be worried about,” she teased.  “Did you fall into anymore magma pits this year?”

“That was  _ one _ time, Ray.  I had to make sure the dragonet didn’t fall; it hadn’t gotten its lava scales yet.”

“You’re such a softie,” she teased, and he blushed.  He pushed it away as his heat grew more intense and he saw her smile slip slightly, her cheeks going red.  He edged back again, putting more reluctant space between them.

“I missed you,” he said again, his voice cracking with longing.  “I always miss you. Even when you’re right in front of me.”

Her eyes ghosted over with tears.  One escaped down her cheek and turned to a snowflake as soon as it left her skin, fluttering down to the ground.  She lowered herself down into the snow, sitting with her ice-white dress flowing out around her, and grabbing handfuls of snow in two fists.

“Talk to me,” she said, desperately.  “Let me hear your voice so that I can remember it until next spring.”

He felt his chest tightening up to explode, but he, too, sat down, scorching a circle around him from the heat.

The first time they met, it was an an accident.  He wasn’t supposed to be so far from the mountains, but a curious group of dragonets had gone to inspect some springtime flowers, and it was just warm enough at the edge of spring for him to be able to handle a period away from the volcano.

After wrestling a couple dragonets and ordering them back home to their mothers, while the cold started to get to him and make him feel like he was choking, he saw her.  In the same ice-white dress as always, with her maroon hair like cooling magma and her eyes like smoke in a lavender dusk sky, she caught sight of him and gasped. It had been the first and only time he had met one of the Winterfolk.

_ “Tell me about winter,” _ he had asked her before he had even said hello.   _ “I’ve never seen it before.” _

She’d stared at him with her mouth in an O for a long moment.  And then she’d laughed. She’d laughed so hard that she doubled over and the air frosted over with her breath.  When she finally came out of it, and he had pouted at her, she quickly waved her hands.

_ “I’m not laughing at you!” _ she insisted.   _ “I just— they told us you’d burn us.  Not ask curious questions.” _

She’d smiled as bright as the sun over head and said.

_ “Tell me about summer, and we have a deal.” _

“Last year’s summer was so beautiful,” he said, trying to paint the picture for her.  “You should have seen the corn in the farmer’s fields. I’ve never seen a crop so heavy.”

“What does corn look like?” she said, leaning forward with fascination.

“It’s tall and green, as green as you can imagine, just all the way out to the horizon nothing but green.”

“An ocean,” Ray whispered with delight.  “An ocean of green.”

“I’ve never seen the ocean,” Zarc admitted.

“Oh, it’s beautiful,” she said, eyes lighting up.  “It...it must be somewhat like looking at the corn, only it’s a dark, dark blue black, and always shifting back and forth with the winds.  Ice floats like thick islands on its top and you can see the gulls soaring over head and calling out to each other in the bright sky.”

She leaned forward and he wondered if she realized that she was doing it.  He was leaning forward towards her moving lips, too, and he couldn’t take his eyes off of her.  It was getting cold. So cold. His fire was freezing up inside of him and he was having trouble breathing, but he got closer anyway.  She was starting to flush and sweat the closer she got, but her hands reached for his anyway.

They were inches apart when they couldn’t handle it anymore.  Zarc’s eyes were frosting over and he couldn’t see, his throat froze shut, he had to jolt away.  She looked like she was melting from the sweating she was doing when his eyes finally cleared, and he flinched seeing the burns fading from her arms and cheeks.  He’d gotten too close.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

Ray curled up with her head in her lap and started to cry.

“It’s not fair,” she said.  “Why do I have to love you when I can’t even touch you?”

He flinched again, lips parting.  For a moment, his eyes blurred with tears.

“Why?” she whispered again.  “I’m only happy here and I can’t even stay.  Why do I have to go home? Why can’t...why can’t we be together?”

_ I’m hurting her _ , he thought, feeling his chest thicken with pain.   _ I’m hurting her.  I’m so selfish, coming to see her just to hear her talk when...when it hurts us both so badly. _

“Ray,” he said softly.  “Ray...”

He couldn’t even touch her to comfort her.  Couldn’t run his hands through her hair the way he wanted to.  Couldn’t kiss her. He bowed his head and cried softly, his tears evaporating before they even left his eyes.

_ Are we cursed? _ he found himself thinking.   _ What did we do to deserve this? _

He looked again at Ray, at the woman he loved, at the woman he was hurting just by being here.

_ This has to stop, _ he thought through the pain in his chest.

_ I can’t see her again. _

He forced a smile, and leaned forward just a little.

“Hey,” he said.  “Let me tell you about the dragons born this year.”

_ This is our last spring. _


	3. Curse Three: We Cannot See

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Obsession
> 
> Ray's moved into a new house, and the obnoxious neighbor has been teasing her with implications that her house might be haunted. It's a joke, of course; but that tiny door in the back of her closet is a little ominous.

Ray glared at the spider in the back of the mailbox, daring it to make a move as she carefully edged her hand inside.  It wasn’t even that big, maybe the size of her pinky nail, but it had a nasty red spot in the middle of its back, and didn’t that mean it was like, deadly poisonous?  

She removed the mail without incident, slapping it shut.  She rifled through it as she headed up the driveway, checking to make sure it was all theirs.  They’d just gotten the address forwarded, so they were finally getting some of their stuff. 

“Morning!”

Was someone talking to her?  She turned frowning as she looked for the source of the call.  A man on the other side of the white fence between the two houses was waving at her.  He smiled a perfect smile that quirked his small beauty mark near his eye, leaning on the edge of his push mower.  Push mowers. They really were out in the boonies.

She smiled and waved back politely.

“Morning,” she called.  “Nice day out today, right?”

“Just in time for the first day of spring,” the young man agreed, nodding.  “Say you aren’t the one who moved into this old place, are you?”

Ray raised both eyebrows.  Had getting the mail out of the mailbox and walking back towards the house not been evidence enough?

“Yes, my mother and I just moved in a few days ago,” she said.  “Sorry, we hadn’t gotten around to introducing ourselves around yet.”

The man only continued smiling.

“That’s all right, I know how the whole shebang goes.  The name’s Dennis. Dennis Macfield.”

“Ray Akaba,” Ray said in response.  The young man smiled and gave her a tiny salute.

“You and your mother be careful in that one,” he said. “It’s old.”

“Don’t worry, we know about the rotting boards in the attic,” Ray said.  “We’ll fix her up.”

“No, no, not that,” the man said, shaking his head.  He had a conspiratorial sort of grin as he put one finger to his nose.  “You be careful of the ghosts, the ghosts. Nasty business went on in that house.”

Ray chuckled and rolled her eyes.  Typical small town gossip. Had to make some excuse for the house being so cheap, she guessed.  It was almost charming in how cliche it was.

“We’ll be careful,” she said.  “You have a good day now.”

The man grinned, nodded, and went back to pushing his mower.  Ray shook her head on the way back up to the house.

“Well, we have a spider in our mailbox, and a conspiracy theorist for a neighbor, but I think we can only deal with one of those things,” she called as she pushed through the screen.  “Mom?”

“In the kitchen, honey,” her mother called back distractedly.  “Busy.”

Ray rolled her eyes again.  When her mom got into unpacking, there was no disturbing her.  She tossed the mail on the stand beside the door, went around the boxes in the hall, and headed up the creaky old stairs to the room that would be hers.

_ Twenty-three and still living with mom, _ she moaned to herself.   _ In the middle of nowhere, no less. _

She just hoped to god that maybe this next story of hers would finally sell.  Maybe she could get out of here as soon as she had had to uproot.

The room was a tiny one, but it suited her.  She’d already put down a couple of brightly colored floral rugs onto the hardwood floor, and made the bed, but the rest of her meager stack of boxes were yet to be unpacked.  She tossed the letter from her friend onto the small writing desk and cracked her knuckles.

“Let’s see what we’ve got for closet space,” she said out loud to herself.

There was a thick door in the back of the room that she assumed would be the closet.  The handle caught when she tried to turn it, and she had to jiggle it a few times before it actually turned.  

It was dark inside, but she saw a little hanging string and reached in to pull on it.  The bare lightbulb clicked on. Well, this wasn’t bad considering the size of the room.  It was just big enough for her to actually walk inside, and it already had some poles to hang things on.  She could fit her clothes in here easy-peasy.

Her eyes wandered down and the smile that had been growing on her lips faded.

“What is that for?” she mumbled.

There was a tiny door on the other side of the closet, straight across from her.  It was dark and the wood was peeling a bit. If she got down on her hands and knees, she’d be able to fit through it, but it would be a squeeze.  Crawl space? In the back of a closet?

Curious, she crouched down and scooted forward towards the little door.  She tugged on the handle. It didn’t move. Was it locked from the other side?  That would be a trick. She tried again. The door didn’t budge.

Something cold ghosted over the back of her neck.

In spite of herself, she yelped.  She jumped up so fast that she went tumbling backwards, out of the closet, and hit the ground back first.  She laid there for a moment, stunned by the impact against the wood.

Laying there looking at the ceiling, her panic very quickly faded to embarrassment.

“Letting ghost stories get to me?  What am I, twelve?”

Well, maybe talking to herself wasn’t helping either.  

Irritated, she pushed herself back up and marched back into the closet, crouching down right in front of the door.  She didn’t need to get it open, she just needed prove to herself that she was just imagining things.

...was she imagining that it was suddenly much harder to breathe?  She shifted upwards, sitting cross legged instead, so that she wouldn’t be pressing her chest against her knees.  No, it wasn’t stopping. There was a weird weight on her chest and her heart was starting to thrum really fast— 

She pushed herself out of the closet and closed it up behind her.  Her chest immediately felt lighter, but her heart was still thumping.

She growled.

“Stupid,” she muttered.

She didn’t open the closet again, though.

~

_ Dark.  It’s so dark.  Please...please...someone...someone please, help me.... _

_ It’s getting hard to breathe.  I can’t....I can’t breathe. My throat’s too dry to scream anymore.  No one can hear me. _

_ W-what...what’s that? _

A sound, the jiggling of a lock.

_ I’m here!  I’m in here, please, I’m in here!  Can you hear me? Please, please help me, please open the door, please—  _

He tried to move.  Was he moving? Was he imagining moving?  It was so dark. He couldn’t see anything.  

Warm.  He felt something warm under his hand.  He heard a yelp. The warm vanished.

_ No, don’t go, please!  Don’t go don’t go don’t go don’t go—  _

The warm came back.  He grabbed for it desperately, shoved against it as hard as he could, please, just someone please know that he was here, someone help— 

The warmth vanished once more and the dark went ice cold again.  He was alone.

_ Please...please...someone...please... _

~

Ray couldn’t sleep.  Or was she sleeping? She wasn’t sure.  Maybe the tossing and turning was a dream because when she turned over once, she saw the closet door hanging open and she knew she hadn’t opened it.

Was it panic, sleep paralysis, or the dream that held her to the bed?  One way or another, she couldn’t move. She could only lie there and stare at the gaping maw of darkness inside the closet.  She didn’t remember turning the light off when she closed it, the light should still be on. But it was only darkness, voracious,  _ living _ darkness, like the closet was a mouth that was going to eat her whole.

_ Bump. _

She still couldn’t move.

_ Bump.  Bump. Bumpbumpbumpbump. _

That sounded like knocking.  Someone was in the closet, inside the tiny door, knocking on it.  It went on for what felt like hours and hours and Ray could not move.  She couldn’t make a single sound squeeze through her throat.

She gasped awake to the light coming through the window and found that she was crying.

She turned her head over on her pillow.

The closet was closed.

~

_ What’s...what’s that? _

Sounds.  He could hear sounds.  Something other than his ragged breaths and tired attempts to claw into the wood and ram against the door.  What was it? He couldn’t...focus....

Sometimes, when he was really, really disassociating, he imagined that he was outside again.  Only, everything was still pitch black, he still couldn’t see a thing. He could only feel the edges of the room, the arch of the closet as he fumbled his way along, bumping into walls, trying to feel his way down the stairs of the house he once knew so well.  Today when he found his mind wandering, he was surprised to find he felt something other than what he remembered.

Something soft brushed his fingers as he made his imaginary way through the closet.  He felt at it more. Clothes. Someone had hung clothes in the closet. The sounds were coming from outside the closet.  He felt his way through the closed door and into the room.

The floor felt different.  It wasn’t bare. He felt his careful way along, trying to find the source of the sounds.  It was a regular, fascinating sort of beat, music he had never heard before. It kind of squeaked and popped, as though it weren’t made with normal instruments.  And...

Humming.  He heard humming.  He felt his way towards it.

He hesitated when she started to sing softly under her breath.  Oh... he sucked in a breath. He had never heard anything so beautiful before.  

_ Can you hear me? _ he tried to shout through the door.   _ Can...can you hear me?  Are you there? _

She kept singing as though she had heard nothing.  He imagined feeling his way towards her.

His hands closed around soft, warm skin, and he gasped.  He fumbled with the other hand and it landed on something else warm and soft.

She immediately yelped.  Her song stopped and he felt her rip away from him.  In seconds, his imagining ended and he was back inside, in the dark, feeling nothing.

_ I’m sorry _ , he tried to scream.   _ Please, don’t leave me alone, please, don’t stop singing, please....come back come back come back... _

~

Ray stared at the very clear hand shaped bruise on her arm.  It was as though someone had grabbed her around the forearm, leaving a mark behind.  It...it didn’t  _ hurt _ .  But it had felt so icy, burning cold for a second and she had flinched away.  She’d felt it on the back of her neck, too. Was there a mark there? She grabbed for a her hand mirror, and turned the one on the desk towards her.

There was.  Another full handprint, like someone had struck her open palmed against the back of her neck.

_ Bump.  Bumpbumpbumpbumpbump. _

Her eyes flashed to the closet.  Back down to the handprint.

“Oh my god,” she mumbled faintly.

~

This time she dreamed someone in the closet was screaming.

The sound was muffled, as though it were coming through cloth, but she could make out the edges of words.   _ Sorry.  Sorry. I promise to be good.  I won’t tell. I’m sorry. I won’t leave.  Please. Please. Please. _

She heard the closet door banging and nails clawing into wood.

And no matter how much she cried, no matter how much she wanted to get up, run, throw the door open and let the screaming voice free, she couldn’t move.

~

_ Come back. _

_ I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to.  I’ll be good. _

_ Come back. _

_ Come back. _

_ Come back. _

~

“Tell me what happened in that house.”

Her neighbor looked surprised to be bothered, blinking at her very rapidly.  Then he half smiled, laughing.

“I was really just messing with you...new people always love ghost stories,” he said.

“No, there’s something in that house, and I need to know what happened.  Please, I don’t know where else to start.”

Something in her wide eyes and ragged expression must have gotten through to Dennis, because he hesitated, biting his lip.  She rolled her sleeve up and showed him the handprint bruise that still hadn’t faded.

“This just appeared,” she said.  “Something’s happening.”

That did it.  His eyes widened.  Then he nodded, and beckoned her inside.

“Okay, so...I really was messing with you,” he said.  “But good ghost stories always have some kind of truth to them, so...”

He lead her into a messy living room.  Every surface was covered in papers and books.  There wasn’t even a couch to sit on.

“Sorry about the mess.  Can’t be bothered to clean up when I’m busy researching.”

“Researching?”

“You know.  For ghost stories.  Why else do you think I live in the middle of nowhere?”

Ray frowned at the mess, but shrugged.  She was a writer herself, so she guessed she could understand.

Dennis pushed some stuff unceremoniously to the floor and dug through the rest until he had what he wanted.  He turned the album towards her, and she picked her way through the papers, tucking her hair behind her ear before leaning in.

“The Tatsuzaki family was the last family to be in that house, almost fifty years ago,” Dennis said.  “They were an old money family. Rumors of shady business, but only that. Rumors.”

He flipped the pages open and found a picture, pointing to it.  It was an old, grainy black and white photo of a stark looking family.  

Ray found her eyes drawn to the young man in the middle, clearly the youngest.  He was...well, handsome, she had to admit. His eyes were somehow very clear despite the low quality, and she could almost feel him looking at her.

Could almost hear him begging someone to get him out of there.

She flinched at how clearly the emotion hit her, and Dennis looked at her curiously.

“What happened to them?” she said, twitching in spite of herself.

“Dunno,” Dennis said.  “Their youngest disappeared one day and they never reported it to the police; no one noticed for about six months.”

“No one even  _ noticed _ ?” Ray said, aghast.  “Even in a town like this?”

“You’d think it’d be hard to keep a secret, right?” Dennis said.  “Either way...he just up and vanished. There was a bit of a police search, but to be honest I think they suspected the family.  The Tatsuzakis packed up and moved a little while after the case was declared cold.”

The door in the back of the closet.  Ray’s arm ached where her bruise was.

“What do you think happened?” she said.

“Me?” Dennis said.  “I haven’t the slighest.”

“Theory.  You’ve got to have a theory,” she said desperately.

Dennis grimaced, but he took a moment to think.

“I think his parents offed him,” he said.  “It’s hard to get concrete information from back then, but...doesn’t sound like he was on good terms with his folks and there were all those shady rumors about black market deals and stuff.  I think he decided to try to cut and run, and they killed him so that he couldn’t tell the authorities anything.”

Ray felt cold.  She hugged herself as the tears bubbled to her eyes.

“Do you think he’s vengeful?” she mumbled.

Dennis looked at the bruise on her arm.

“I think maybe you might want to consider a different house,” he said.

~

He dreamed about the singing.  Sometimes it was big sister’s singing, her light, cheerful voice when she thought no one was listening.  Then it turned to the new voice, the one he had scared away. He wished she’d come back. 

_ Come back, please.  Please. _

He hadn’t heard another voice in so long.  He wanted to cry. Was he crying? Maybe he couldn’t anymore.  

_ Let me out.  Please. Let me out.  Let me out. Let me out. _

He felt something warm in front of him.

“Hello?” she whispered.

~

Ray put her hands onto the door inside the closet, heart hammering.  There wasn’t any pressure this time, and she didn’t feel cold. She pressed her hands against the wood.

He was in there.

She was sure of it.

_ “You’re crazy,” _ Dennis had said when she said she was going back.   _ “Looks like he’s already tried to kill you once.” _

_ “I can’t leave him in there all alone.” _

He’d shaken his head.

_ “I know better than to stop someone so obsessed...your funeral, though.  If you die, can I write my next book about it?” _

She didn’t feel cold or like there was a weight on her chest.  What she did feel was a powerful, overwhelming sadness.

“You’ve been alone for so long, haven’t you?” she whispered, feeling tears bubble over her eyelashes.  “I’m so sorry. God, I am so sorry.”

She leaned her head down and rested it against the wood.

“It’s okay,” she said.  “It’s okay. You’re not alone.  You don’t have to be in there anymore.”

She felt a chill on her shoulders, but it was light, tentative.  This time, she could feel the hands behind the chill, and she didn’t flinch away.

_ “You came back.” _

The voice echoed in her head as though it were her own thoughts, and it was filled with so much desperate wonder that she began to cry.

~

He felt her warm pressed up near him as though her hands were on his shoulders.  He imagined reaching for her, and his hands felt something warm. Maybe he wasn’t imagining.  Maybe he actually was touching her. But he was still in the dark...he couldn’t actually move.  How would he be...?

“I’m sorry,” he heard her whispering.  “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. This is awful.”

Who was she, anyway?  What was she doing in his house?  He panicked for a moment. Mother and father would kill her.  They’d kill her if they found her in the house. She had to run away.

“You’ve been left all alone, I’m so sorry, it’s been so long.”

....long?  How long? He’d been in the dark for...but if he had been in here that long then...

Oh.

Oh.

He was dead.

For a moment, panic overtook him.  He was dead. Oh god. How long had he been dead?  He’d died, he’d actually died, they’d left him here to die, they’d really killed him, they’d— 

She gasped and yelped and he quickly, quickly released her.  She’d run. Oh god, she’d run, she’d leave him all alone again, he’d hurt her— 

“It’s okay,” she whispered.  “I’m not...I’m not leaving. I won’t leave you.”

He knew why he couldn’t cry, but he wanted to.

_ Why? _

“Because it’s too cruel.  It’s too cruel to leave you here.  I— I’ll stay right here, I’ll never leave, I won’t, I won’t leave you all by yourself.”

She was crying so hard.  He could hear her against the door.

If he was dead, he wondered why he couldn’t see her.  Or anything, really. Ghosts should be able to wander, right?

Maybe he’d just always assumed he was in the dark, and had never thought to open his eyes.

He felt blindly forward, and found her hands, pressed against the wood.  He could feel each of her fingers as he carefully twined his between hers.  She shuddered, but she did not let go.

_ “You don’t have to stay,” _ he whispered.   _ “Just please...make sure I get out.” _

~

“...and in local news, a cold case long thought unsolved was brought to a closure this weekend, when new residents in Oaktree Neighborhood discovered the remains of Zarc Tatsuzaki locked inside a hidden closet in their new home.  While the suspects in his initial disappearance have long since passed away, police are...”

Ray turned the television off.  She let her head fall back against the couch, staring up at the ceiling.  She didn’t want to sleep in her room.

She closed her eyes, and tried not to think about how she felt when the police forced open the closet and found what was left of him.

She tried not to think about the cold leaving her shoulders and fading away until his presence completely faded.

_ You’re free now _ , she thought.   _ And I already miss you. _


	4. Curse Four: We Can't Both Live

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Immortality
> 
> Ray has been sick for years. She's getting worse. She tells him not to worry, to not bring home anymore doctors, but he can't lose her. Against her wishes, he begs a wandering sorcerer for help.

She coughs into her hand, palm pressed hard against her mouth so that he won’t hear.  He hears it, though. He always hears it.

His hands crunch into his mattress and he pretends, for her sake, that he doesn’t.

~

“You’re a sorcerer, aren’t you?”

Zarc curses the tremble in his voice, the way it cracks with desperation and hope at the end of it.  The man hesitates. He glances up and the cloak tilts away from his face, revealing a pale, sallow complexion and narrow eyes.  He smiles, and it is not comforting.

“I am,” he says, turning in the stool to face Zarc.  “Is there some way I can be of assistance?”

Zarc finds that his composure shatters at the question.  His knees buckle, and he loses all sense of pride, dropping to his knees and grasping at the man’s cloak.

“Please,” he begs.  “She’s dying. There must be something you can do.”

The man’s smile does not change.

“Well,” he says.  “I can certainly have a look.

~

Ray is shooting him irritable glances from under her bangs, but Zarc doesn’t care.  He sits and twitches in his seat while the sorcerer looks Ray over, poking at her wrist and tutting softly at the look of her veins.

“How long have you been sick?” he asks.  “Since childhood?”

“Close,” Ray says.  “It started when I moved into town here.”

“And you haven’t moved away to see if perhaps it is the climate?”

“Well...Zarc and I did move a few times.  It never changed, so we just came back here.”

The man’s eyes flick up to Ray, and then to Zarc.  He sighs, releasing her hand. She tucks it back onto her lap, looking relieved that he is no longer touching her.

“Try a bit of this,” the man says, handing Ray a small vial he produces from his cloak.  “Not too much at once. Just a drop into your meal once a day. I’ll be back in this direction in a week, and we will see if anything changes.”

“Thank you,” Ray says, with the stony face she only uses for particularly annoying soliciters.  She eyes Zarc with a look that says  _ “we will be discussing this later.” _  Zarc ignores it for now, leaping to his feet to escort the man back to the door.

“We don’t have much, but I can pay you something for...”

“No,” the sorcerer says, holding up a hand.  He looks distracted. “It’s not a treatment, only an experiment to see what will help.  I will be back through this town on my way back from my next stop, and I will check in. I will understand more of her condition then.”

“Thank you,” Zarc says, relief crashing through him.  “Thank you, you have no idea how much this means to me.  She’s...she’s always been weak since I’ve known her...”

The man presses his lips together briefly.  He smiles, then and it makes Zarc’s skin crawl, even though it is not directed at him.  He has never met a sorcerer before, so perhaps they’re all like this.

“I will see you again,” the sorcerer says, before pulling his hood back over his limp blond hair, and vanishing out into the night.

Ray is waiting by the fire for Zarc when he gets back.

“We said no more doctors,” she said.

“He’s not a doctor, Ray, he’s a sorcerer.  If anyone can help you, it’s going to be him.”

Ray glares at him, her hands tightening into her lap.  But before she can speak, her inhale catches, and her face goes white.  Zarc leaps forward before she keels over. She coughs over and over, her entire body wracking with each flinching, shuddering motion.

There’s blood on her skirt when she finally gasps for air, leaning back against his hands.  She grabs his hand when he tries to look at it.

“I bit the inside of my cheek,” she says.  “I’m not coughing up blood yet.”

She gives him a wry smile.

“I’m not going to die, Zarc,” she says.  “I can’t die. Not when you need taking care of.”

“You need to rest,” Zarc says back, squeezing her hand.  “Come on...I’ll get you in bed and I’ll bring dinner to you.”

She feels even lighter than usual when he carefully bundles her into his arms, and her head falls against his neck, breathing softly.

“Don’t leave,” she whispers.

“I won’t,” he says.

~

Zarc stumbles to the door.  His hands feel weak and he has to lift the latch three times before he gets it undone.  Once it’s open, he nearly keels forward, but grabs the doorframe to remain stable.

The sorcerer smiles blandly at him.

“You look like you haven’t slept,” he says.  “How has she been doing?”

The sorcerer follows the staggering Zarc inside, and hovers briefly over Ray’s bed.  Ray can’t even open her eyes. Her hands twitch, and every time she breathes, she chokes on another cough.

“She’s getting worse,” Zarc says, tears blurring his eyes.  “Please...there has to be something you can do. I’ll pay whatever you need me to, just please, please, you have to save her.”

The man leans over her, passing his hand over her face.  He smiles again, which seems out of place. It seizes Zarc with a brief anger, anger that he wants to grab this man and strangle him.

“Well, I think I know what the problem is,” the sorcerer says.

Zarc’s anger melts and he leans forward.

“What?  What’s wrong with her?  What can I do?”

“It appears you both are cursed.”

Zarc’s mind stops in its tracks.  ...cursed? But...but by who? And why?  What could either of them have done to warrant a curse?

“T-then...then there must be a way to break it, isn’t there?  Magic always has an antidote!”

“I’m afraid this is no ordinary woodwitch’s curse,” the sorcerer says, shaking his head.  “This is an old one. One that appears to have followed the both of you for quite some time.”

“I...I don’t understand.  How do I save her?”

“Let me ask you one thing: when you met her, was she sick?

Zarc blinks, lips parting.  He looks down at his love, paralyzed and gasping on the bed.

“...no,” he whispers.  “She was...she was strong.”

He remembers the first time he saw her.  Her hair, loose and wild and tangled from where she had just crashed through the woods, her face smudged and teeth bared in a wild grin, arms full of apples she had stolen from the orchard and flowers she’d found in the fields.

“And the longer you knew her, the worse she became?”

“...yes,” Zarc breathes, starting to feel horrified.

He remembers it now: running around in the woods with Ray, both of them laughing and shouting, until Ray suddenly had to stagger to a stop and put her hands on her knees, having trouble breathing.

_ “That’s funny,” _ she had said once she got her air back.   _ “That’s never happened to me before.” _

The day they had moved in, when suddenly in the middle of carrying boxes that should have been no problem for her, her muscles had just given out.  He’d found her struggling to push the books that had fallen from the box off of her chest, dizzy and claiming her vision was patching out.

They’d moved away when her sickness got worse, for warmer climates, ones that doctors recommended for her weak lungs and shaking hands.  Ray insisted it was nothing, there was nothing wrong with her, she was fine, she was strong, she’d make it through.

Every day she got weaker.  No move made her better. The more he held her, the lighter and thinner she seemed to become, no matter how many meals he made for her.

“Your souls are caught in the same curse, it seems,” the sorcerer says.  “It’s your closeness that causes her sickness.”

Zarc couldn’t stand up.  He collapsed to his knees, staring with horror at nothing, at their tiny, beloved home that they had spent so many happy evenings together.

“It’s me?” he says, eyes blurring.  “It’s because of me?”

“It seems you’re cursed to be apart,” the sorcerer says, patting his shoulder in a decidedly uncomforting motion.  “Both of you cursed to suffer as long as you’re in each other’s lives.”

“How do I fix it?” Zarc begs.  “Should— if I leave her, if I go away, will she get stronger again?”

“I fear not.  The sickness is deep, now; as long as she loves you, I suspect she’ll suffer from it.”

Zarc grabs the sorcerer’s cloak, begging.

“Please,” he whispers.  “Please, there has to be something you can do.  Something we can do to break it. I’ll do anything, please, I’ll do anything to save her.”

The sorcerer is still smiling.

“Well,” he says.  “I might have one possible solution.”

~

Ray blinks, grogginess sealing her eyelashes shut.  It takes her a moment to come awake, and she winces at the light coming through the window.  A gentle heaviness envelops her body, and she yawns, stretching. Oh...she can lift her arms.

She stares at her hands, surprised.  She...she feels well today. Better than ever, actually.  

Triumph briefly overtakes her.   _ I told you, Zarc, _ she thinks.   _ I just needed to sweat it out!  I’ll be back to full in no time. _

She feels a bit light-headed, but surprisingly strong as she swings herself over the side of the bed.  She can stand! A giddy giggle overtakes her as her weight holds beneath her. She’s still a little shaky from lack of walking, but she doesn’t feel like she’s going to die.  Her lungs feel clear for the first time in months. Wait until Zarc sees!

...where is Zarc, anyway?

The tiny one-room house is empty.  There isn’t any sign of him having cooked breakfast, and his work coat is still hanging on the hook by the door, though his boots are gone.  She frowns. Did he go out to chop firewood? Or...well, the vase is gone, maybe he went to pick fresh flowers.

Moving carefully just in case she got weak again, Ray moves towards the door and slips on her shoes, peeking outside into the fields.

“Zarc?” she calls.  “Zarc? Where are you?”

A nervous tension creeps into her stomach.  The world outside looks bright and cheerful, wildflowers bobbing in the breeze, birds flitting and chirping through the blue sky.  Something, however, feels very wrong. She pushes through the door and into the grass, looking around for some sign of Zarc.

“Zarc?” she calls, louder this time.  “Zarc!”

She feels it rather than hears it— a soft, gasping cry.  Her pigtails smack her in the face when she spins around, towards the woods behind their house.  There. He’s there. She can’t say why she knows, but she does.

She bolts for the woods.

“Zarc!” she shouts.  “Where are you?”

She ducks under branches and pushes through foliage, trying to see him, trying to find any small sign of him— 

She trips and bangs into a tree, grabbing hold of it for support.  Oh....oh  _ god _ .  What is happening?

Zarc lays on the ground, crumpled on his side like a tossed doll.  

“Zarc!”

There is some strange, black smoke curling around him in a perfect circle, following some lines drawn on the ground with something red that makes  her stomach twist automatically. As soon as she is close enough, she can tell: the red is blood, painted onto the leaves. Zarc is laying in a puddle of his own blood.

“Zarc!”

Her voice comes out like a shriek, and a shape on the other side of the bloody circle looks up. It’s him.  It’s the sorcerer that Zarc brought over, the one she didn’t trust.

“Ah,” he says, smiling blandly like a snake. “It seems you are awake already.  The experiment seems to be a success.”

“What did you do to him?” Ray shrieks.

She stumbles forward, but the man’s hand shoots up.

“Ah, ah, ah...stay out of the magic circle,” he says.  “If you enter it, you might do him more harm than good.”

The smoke bubbles and curls, swirling in closer to Zarc’s ragged looking form.  He jolts when the smoke touches his skin, gasping. As though he’s been shot, his body jerks and flinches, flinging him onto his back.  His arms are bleeding, that’s where he cut himself to get the blood for the circle, and his eyes are so wide and white she can’t seen their normal gold.  His mouth opens in a silent scream, and the smoke forces its way in through his throat, making his body convulse and jolt.

She stumbles forward another step.

“Let him go!” she screams.  “Whatever you’re doing to him, stop it!”

“What I am doing is saving your life,” the sorcerer says.  “I doubt you were awake enough to hear. Your souls are cursed; if the two of you become close in any life you live, you both suffer. That is the cause of your mysterious illness.”

Ray feels like she’s choking.  No, no, no, he’s lying, he must be lying!

“Your husband was so very willing to participate in an experiment of mine,” the man says.  “We’re going to see if we can transfer the entirety of the curse to him. It appears to be working.”

Zarc screams.  His whole body arches upward like he’s possessed, smoke still pouring into his mouth.  Ray shatters.

She takes another step forward.

“Careful,” the sorcerer warns again.  “If you enter the circle with him, you won’t just take the curse back; you’ll both likely die.”

Ray ignores him.  She pushes herself forward.

The closer she gets to the edge of the magic circle, the heavier her chest becomes.  She can hardly breathe. She’s back to being thin and weak and gasping. She walks forward anyway.

She steps over the first line of blood.  Zarc screams again, flinching and flailing.

“No!” he gasps through the smoke.  “R-Ray...no...”

He’s not even looking at her, but he knows she’s there.  She steps over the second line of blood.

“Stay away!” Zarc begs, screaming in between each word.  “Don’t come, please!”

“Don’t do this,” Ray whispers.  She steps over the last line of blood, and she is beside him.  She can’t breathe, her vision is going out in patches around the edges of her eyes.  “Don’t take it all on yourself.”

“I want you to live,” Zarc gasps, tears rolling down his cheeks.

She reaches for him, hands like weights at the ends of her twig arms, and pulls his head onto her lap.  The smoke is bubbling and curling, now, and she can feel it like a heavy malice crushing in on them, a malice with words that skitter across the edges of her mind.  

_ “You’ll live lives of horror and suffering.  You chose to help each other, so now you will each be the reason for the other’s suffering,” _

She forces her face down to his, pressing her lips against his, breathing in the scent and taste of him.  He sobs softly into her mouth. When she breaks away, the smoke begins to tighten around her, and thick like molasses, begins to slide down her throat and choke off her air.  Her vision is fading. All she can feel is Zarc in her arms.

“We’re cursed,” he sobs.  “We’re cursed...let me save you...”

She shakes her head as the world goes black.

“If we’re cursed, then so be it,” she says.  “We’ll break it together, or we’ll be cursed together.  But I won’t let go of you.”

The last of her life slipped away from her, and she sighed deeply, letting it go.

_ Remember _ , she told herself as thoughts ceased.   _ In the next life, you have to remember. _


	5. Curse Five: Barrier

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Fragment
> 
> Zarc is a devoted environmental activist, and he is determined to expose this so-called marine wildlife research center for the animal abusers they are. He is not, however, prepared for what he finds locked inside the facility.

All right.  The lights went down, and he toggled the switch of his goggles to turn it onto night mode, and the dark room appeared clearly outline in green.  He didn’t see any movement down below him. Perfect.

Zarc waited ten more seconds, counting them out in his head.  He’d been tucked in the rafters for about thirty minutes, now, waiting for the closing procedures and for the researchers below to disappear, and the lights to finally go out.  It was uncomfortable, pressed stomach first against the metal with his legs awkwardly tucked up behind him, and his heavy bag pressing into his back, but it would be worth it.

Ten seconds passed with no movement.  Gently, he swung himself around and dangled from the rafters for a moment.  He freed one hand to hook his line into the metal, and then rappelled down. He hit the ground as lightly as he could manage.  There wouldn’t be any motion sensor type alarms in this room, because, well, if he was right, they were keeping the animals in here, and them moving around would set off all of the alarms.  Still, he hoped he’d gotten the camera patterns right.

He swung his bag to his side, dropping to one knee and unhooking himself from the line in the same motion.  He pulled out his camera and clicked on the night lens. He didn’t want the flash to go off, but he needed good pictures. He’d shelled out a fuck ton of money for this.

“All right,” he muttered.  “Let’s see what you’re hiding back here.”

This room was just a bunch of lab equipment: microscopes, slide files, computers.  He took a few pictures around just in case someone else saw something skeevy in them.  He moved to the door and hesitated, checking to listen for movement. When he heard nothing, he quickly unlocked it and slipped through.

Oh yeah.  This was what he was looking for.

A huge line of tanks glowed softly in the dark, sending blue ripples over the aisle between them.  In the one to his right, he saw a very sad looking manatee. The tank was barely big enough for it to turn around, and so it could only float there.  Zarc’s chest coiled with anger.

But there wasn’t much he could do; he couldn’t just open the cages like he could with a land animal, and he couldn’t carry a manatee all the way to the ocean.  Not to mention it wouldn’t be in the right ocean, anyway, and he’d do more harm than good. So he reluctantly satisfied himself by snapping a few photos, and moved on.

The tank across from the manatee look empty, initially, but then he saw the Hawksbill Turtle laying in the corner with its face pressed into the wall, and another burst of anger overtook him.  He took another picture.

“You fuckers are going down,” he muttered, moving down the aisle.

Just as he had expected, each tank contained one or more endangered or threatened animals, stuffed into tanks too small for them and terrible water conditions.  This was no innocent marine wildlife observation center. Was that vaquita wearing some kind of electrodes on its back? What the fuck?

He made his way down, taking pictures of each tank.  As soon as he was done, he’d hoof it out of here and get these up on all the forums, circulate them around until the news was too big and this place  _ had _ to be investigated.  Then the animals would be confiscated, rehabilitated, and released where possible.

He reached the end of the aisle; the tanks on either side disappeared and he was instead in what appeared to be a large research room.  Another, slightly bigger tank sat on the other end of the room right in front of him, with a bunch of screens and wires attached to the glass, but it appeared to be empty.  It was probably where they put the animals when they were experimenting on them. Fuckers.

Zarc moved to the desks to see if he could find any loose paperwork that he could snap some photos of, something really incriminating.  The light from the tank ahead of him was actually pretty strong, so he lifted his goggles back briefly to see past his night vision filter, pawing around the desk.

_ Splish. _

Zarc looked up.  Had...had that puddle been on the ground before?  He looked up at the top of the tank. It was grated off, but water could still splash through the bars if something in the tank was moving.  There wasn’t anything  _ in _ that tank, though.  He looked back down at the desk.

_ Splish splash. _

Zarc’s head shot up.  That was absolutely the sound of something moving in that tank.

He gripped his camera, edging slowly around the desks and heading towards the tank.  Maybe there was something hiding in the corner?

He made it in front of the tank, staring inside.  It was bare, like the rest of them, and there wasn’t any spot to hide.  He squinted. He didn’t even see anything tiny zipping around in there. The tank was empty.

Right in front of his face, on the other side of the glass, something melted into view.

Zarc yelped in spite of himself.  He stumbled, tripped, and fell hard on his ass.  What the hell? That— that had just  _ appeared _ , like it was invisible and then the color had suddenly flooded back into it, better than any cuttlefish’s or octopus’s camouflage he’d ever seen— 

Well....

It wasn’t a cuttlefish.  Or an octopus.

His mouth hung open very much like a fish at the creature that was pressing her hands against the glass.

She was long, longer than a dolphin, her swishing tail looking surprising fragile, long and slender like seaweed.  Kelp like appendages fluttered all down her long tail, and she was mottled in shades of green from pale to dull, pale across her bare chest and darker on the tops of her arms and shoulders.  She looked like she’d fit right in at a kelp forest. Her fingers were longer than his, and webbed, tipped with tiny claws. Her hair didn’t quite match the rest of her, though, it was a soft, warm maroon, lined with lighter pink.  Her eyes stared at him, huge and dark blue, without any whites around them.

She blinked at him— or, was it a she?  He had no idea how to tell, it just felt right.  

She was absolutely the most beautiful creature he had ever seen in his entire life.

And then her whole face seemed to light up, and she became even more beautiful.  Her mottled green skin rippled with silver patterns like she had lights beneath her skin.  She spun in a circle, her tail twisting and curling, and then pressed against the glass again.  Her mouth opened. She had a whole row of fangs, and yet, he didn’t feel like the gesture was predatory, or even territorial.  It looked a lot like a smile.

Her mouth opened and closed a few times, and he heard something like a thick, deep-throated hum.  He could only stare. 

Mermaid, his brain finally supplied for him.  This place had an honest-to-god, real life mermaid.  Holy Christ.

The mermaid hummed insistently at him, pressing her face to the glass.  Was she trying to talk to him? He coughed once, trying to get his lungs to function again.

“Hi?” he said.

She light up with silver and gold patterns now.  As though in joy, she did a loop de loop in the tank and then came back to the glass.  She was gesturing at him with her hands, but he couldn’t understand what she was saying, if she was in fact saying anything at all.

His brain chugged back to life.  This place had a real-life mermaid locked up in its lab.  He should take a picture of her; see how that got the forums running.  Oh, fuck, though, if he put her picture up with the rest of them, someone would absolutely call it a hoax, and the rest of his pictures would be considered suspect.  His attempt to save the animals could turn into a meme instead and he’d never get this place shut down.

He’d never get her out of here, either.

“Where’d you come from?” he whispered, pushing himself back to his feet and edging back to the glass.

He couldn’t really trust that her emotions were the same as a human’s, but she seemed to light up with a smile and excitement when he got closer.  He tentatively put his hand against the glass, and she moved hers to the same spot on the other side.

Something about this felt...so nostalgic.

An alarm went off.  

Zarc flinched, leaping back from the glass.  The mermaid’s skin turned to rippling pulses of orange and red and she opened her mouth wide.  The deep humming turned to a shriek that made Zarc flinch and clap his hands over his ears. He heard a door bang open.  Fuck! What had he set off?

“Get your hands in the air!  On the floor, now!”

Zarc fumbled for his camera.

“We will shoot you, get your hands up!”

He had only enough time to hit his deadman’s switch on the camera before flinging his hands up and getting down on his knees, heart thrumming so hard that it shook his brain.  He’d gotten got. Motherfucker, he’d gotten caught! His photos would be safe, though, he had them set to upload to the cloud and disperse without his direct action, it would just take an extra week.

There were five guards in all black, and two of them had guns on him.  One of the others came forward and grabbed him, wrestling him down to the floor and cuffing his hands behind his back.  The fourth grabbed his camera and yanked it from his neck.

The fifth guard turned out not to be a guard at all, but the sour, disgusting smiling face of the owner of the marine research facility.

“Well, well, well,” he said, his face going red.  “Tatsuzaki! How pleasant of you to drop in.”

“Bitch,” Zarc spat at him.

“You didn’t think I’d guess after you’ve been snooping around the public facility for weeks?” the man said. 

“You’re going down,” Zarc said.  “You got me, but you didn’t stop me.”

The man’s face went even redder with anger.  He snatched the camera out of the hands of the guard holding it.

“I’ll be damned if I let some goody-two-shoes Greenpeace-fucker ruin everything I’ve built here,” he spat, and Zarc flinched at the spittle that hit his face.

The man threw his camera to the floor with as much force as he could muster, and it immediately cracked.  Zarc tried to look appropriately upset, flinging himself against the guard holding him while the man stomped on it several times, smashing it to pieces.

“Now,” the man said, smiling as he slicked his hair back with a hand again.  “Let’s turn you in to the police for trespassing, shall we?”

His photos were already online, but he still felt really, really bad seeing his broken up camera.  That’d been expensive.

“You can’t get away with this forever,” Zarc spat at him as the guards bundled him up to his feet.

“Just watch me,” the man said.  “Who’s going to believe you, anyway?”

And then the mermaid began to shriek. 

Zarc’s head whipped over his shoulder.  What— what was she doing? The whole tank rocked as she slammed herself into the glass.

“What the hell?” one of the guards swore.

She flung herself shoulder first into the glass again.  And again. She was going to crack and she’d be stuck without water and she could die!

“Hey!” Zarc shouted.  His guards were so shocked at the mermaid’s movement that they were barely holding him, and he pulled around and ran to the glass.  “Hey! Hey, it’s okay! It’s okay!”

“Get him out of here!” the man shouted, and he was grabbed again and yanked from the glass.

The mermaid shrieked again.  She threw herself at the glass once more, and then, glowing orange with frustration, she shot upwards to the grate, throwing herself against that instead.  Her head came up out of the water each time to hit the grate, but it didn’t budge. She clawed at the metal instead, head poking out of the water.

As Zarc struggled and flailed, nearly dragged out of the room, she shoved her mouth free of the water and screamed once more.

_ “ZARC!” _

Everyone froze.  Zarc felt his knees trembling.  Hey...he had imagined that, right?  That had just happened to sound like his name.  It sounded a little fragmented and accented, like the sounds weren’t natural for her throat, so, it had just been a case of mishearing her, right?

But she was staring at him, right at him, with her eyes wide and her fanged glinting, and he thought that yes, he could attribute human emotions to her inhuman face.  She was scared.

The owner stared at Zarc, going red again.

“What did you do?” he hissed.

“I don’t know!  I swear to god, I have no idea, I didn’t even know you had a mermaid— I didn’t even know they existed until today?”

One of the guards not holding Zarc whispered in the owner’s ear for a moment, and he grimaced.

“This is the most animated we’ve seen it,” he muttered, staring at Zarc.

Then he jerked his chin at Zarc’s guards.  Instead of dragging him to the door, they pulled him back towards the tank.  The mermaid immediately shot down to the bottom of the tank, tail flowing up above her as she pressed her hands and face to the glass near where Zarc was.  The guards flipped him around and pushed him into a chair that they pulled near the tank, cuffing him to the chair instead.

“I think we’ll hold off on turning you in,” the owner said.

~

They just left him there.  They set up a camera and left him there, cuffed to the chair and staring at a mermaid trapped on the other side of the glass who was looking at him like she was about to start crying.  Could mermaids cry? Would you even be able to tell since they were underwater?

Zarc tested his handcuffs.  No luck. Great. He would just have to wait until his photos went online, and when the rest of his group realized he hadn’t been posting before that, they’d know he’d thrown the deadman’s switch, and come looking for him.  That’d be a week.

He looked up at the mermaid, who was staring at him with concern.

“Hey,” he said.  “I’m okay. See?”

He tried to shrug at her.  The mermaid just stared, blinking.  She didn’t seem to understand. So, she could say his name, but she didn’t know what he was saying?

He had enough room to move the chair closer to the glass, and she moved until she was at eye level with him.  He didn’t want to give these asshole scientists any more research material, but she looked worried, and he didn’t want to leave her hanging.

“So uh...have we met before?” he said.  He winced. That sounded like a terrible pick up line.

She tilted her head at him.  There was no response except for a low humming that he felt more than he heard.

“I’m guessing language barrier is a thing, then.”

Blink, blink.

What could he say?  Would she understand any of it?  He cleared his throat.

“I’m Zarc.”

That got a response.  Her body lit up with gold and silver patterns and her humming got louder.

“It seems like you already knew that.”

She darted around in a few circles in her tiny tank, and then popped up to the top, poking her head above the water.

_ “Ray,” _ she burbled in fragmented noises.   _ “Ray.” _

It definitely sounded like those weren’t sounds that were natural for her, and he wasn’t sure what she was trying to say.  She ducked back under the water and put both of her hands on her chest, and then put her head above the water and repeated the sound.

“Ray?  You’re Ray?”

She went fully gold with delight and spun in circles before coming back down, pressing her face to the glass and looking at him with bright eyes.  He seemed to have guessed right.

“Ray,” he said again, and her whole body seemed to shiver.

He felt a faint shudder pass through him, too, and he thought again.

_ You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. _

~

“Shit,” the scientist swore, and Zarc couldn’t help but laugh.

They had been trying to put some kind of collar on Ray for going on five hours now.  Every time the apparatus got close enough to try and grab her around the waist, she’d go invisible and it’d catch on nothing.  She’d reappear a few seconds later and make a face like she was laughing at them.

“Maybe if you weren’t imprisoning her for nefarious purposes, she’d cooperate,” he said, and a handful of people glared at him.  The rest just ignored him. His presence here was unwanted, but apparently had become a necessity. Ray would go invisible as soon as the researchers appeared unless Zarc was around.  It seemed like they couldn’t find her in the tank even with sonar or even by trying to color the tank with something that would move when she moved; she just perfectly hid herself no matter what.  He wondered how they’d managed to catch her in the first place.

Now, however, she just seemed to enjoy fucking with them, sending Zarc covert glances and making motions like laughter after she successfully dodged them yet again.  It was honestly kind of cute, but he wished she didn’t have to be in that tank at all.

“Just sedate it,” the owner growled at them.

“It doesn’t respond to any sedatives,” someone replied.

Ray reappeared after having dodged the metal claw once again, but now she appeared to be getting bored.  Her body went jet black, and then in a flurry of motion Zarc couldn’t comprehend, she’d  _ bent _ the metal out of shape.  There’d be no way for it to grab her now.

Several people swore and someone threw a clipboard to the ground.  Zarc couldn’t help it. He laughed out loud. More people looked at him this time, some of them with very clear anger and hatred.

The owner, however, stared at him with a bit of thoughtfulness. Then he turned to one of the researchers.

“See what it does when we dump him in with it.”

“Sir?” the researcher said, eyes bulging.  “The last person who went in with it—”

“You want to know what it does with stimulation?  Either it kills him or we get something out of it.  Do it.”

Oh, shit, Zarc thought, as someone uncuffed him from the chair and shoved him forwards.  There was a gun poking into his back, so he couldn’t do anything but go where they told him.

“Try not to get killed,” the owner said cheerfully.  “The last person who went in with it was ripped to shreds.”

_ Lovely. _

They forced him up the stairs to the top of the tank.  From underneath, Ray looked up with some confusion and what he thought might be curiosity.

“Are you gonna, uh, take these off?” Zarc said, jingling his hands still cuffed behind him.

The guard just snorted, and the other unlocked and pulled open a door in the grate.

Zarc barely had time to grab a gulp of air before they shoved him inside.  He went under immediately. His vision blurred blue from the glowing tank, and he couldn’t quite see Ray, except as a shooting blur.  For a second, he was absolutely positive that he was going to die. She was a predatory creature with very sharp teeth and ridiculous strength and he probably looked like food.  Her arms wrapped around him and he thought,  _ yup, this is it, this is how I die. _

And then his head was being pushed up above water and he gasped for air, face pushing into the grate overhead.  Ray’s arms were strong but gentle, holding him up. He gasped and got his face down to look at her awkwardly. She kept her own head below water, but even through the rippling, she looked frightened, as though she’d just had a heart attack from seeing him go in.

She was trying to save him, he thought.

“Do we know each other?” he gasped.

Ray burbled, but it didn’t seem as though she understood his words.

Zarc licked his salty lips and inhaled another gasp of air.  Then he slowly, slowly let himself slip underwater with her.

She was right there.  There was no glass in between them, now.  Her skin had turned a pale blue like the water around them, but her eyes and hair never changed with her.  Her huge, inhuman eyes stared at him, lips parted.

She was so close to him.  Her arms felt smooth and sinewed where they held him, gently in their touch, and her face was right in front of his.  He could feel her humming, now, in her chest like a cat purring, but there was a rhythm and beat to it. A language he didn’t know, and one he could never speak.

Ray leaned forward and her lips brushed lightly against his.

_ Oh _ , he though, as a jolt went through him all the way to his toes.   _ This  _ is _ familiar. _

The grate opened up again, and Ray’s arms briefly tightened around him.  But then she shifted him back up, out of the water to gasp for air, allowing the guards to drag him back out of the water, soaked and gasping.  Her hands lingered on his legs before bolting back, away from the guard trying to butt at her hands with the back of his gun. The grate was closed and locked again, and Zarc just sat there, shivering, until they dragged him back down the stairs and flung him back in his chair.

Copses of researchers were whispering and arguing and gesturing, but Zarc was suddenly immensely tired, and he could barely think. He lifted his eyes to the glass to see Ray, pressed against it and watching him with concern.

_ I do know you _ , he thought.   _ But why? _

~

An alarm sounded out over the lab.  Zarc’s head jolted up from his half sleep, groggy and disoriented.  Ray spun agitatedly in her tank, pulsing red and yellow. Someone swore, and the few remaining guards and researchers in the room started moving and fumbling.

“Fucking shit,” someone swore.  “What happened?”

“Is it an intruder?”

“Fuck, no, it’s the actual FBI,” someone else shouted.  “Abort procedures!”

_ Aw hell no _ , Zarc thought, panicking.  Abort procedures meant killing all the animals— meant killing Ray.

Zarc decided he had waited long enough.  He broke the handcuffs open where Ray had weakened them while he’d been in the tank. Before someone could react, he’d already grabbed the chair and swung it at the nearest researcher.  He went down like a stone, and Zarc hefted the chair and charged at the only guard in the room, knocking him down and relieving him of his gun. He kicked the gun under a desk and then smashed the chair over the man’s head.  The last two remaining researchers went screaming from the room.

Ray spun with panicked yellows as Zarc stumbled towards the stairs, dragging the chair with him.  He didn’t have time to find keys. He bashed against the grate until it bent open, and then forced it the rest of the way.  Ray immediately came to the opening, glowing white with curiosity. 

Zarc reached down for her with both hands.  

“Take a deep breath,” he said.  “I’m taking you out of here.”

Ray didn’t even hesitate.  She reached back for him, leaping out of the water with just enough force to get her arms around his shoulders.  He oofed, but managed to drag her out of the tank. She felt cold and slick in his arms, and he was afraid he’d drop her.  Her tail was so long that it dragged, even when he managed to heft her into his arms bridal style. He had to be careful not to step on any part of her tail as he stumbled down the stairs.

How much time could a mermaid spend out of water?  He had no idea. He wasn’t really thinking about anything, except taking Ray out of this place where no one else could use her ever again.

He shoved through a door with his shoulder, panicking slightly.  If he ran into someone with a gun, they’d both be dead.

The hallway was empty even as the siren continued to scream.  He was probably going to run right outside into the FBI, and they’d take her.  They’d take Ray, and he didn’t trust them to release her.

Ray was turning gray in his arms.  Oh god.

He punched out through the doors.  Someone shouted, and he heard a shot go off, but nothing hit him.  Someone else screamed. He wondered what they would think, seeing a wild, mussed looking guy carrying a fucking mermaid in his arms while fleeing from a besieged fake marine wildlife research facility.

There was a police blockade around the building, but he decided to ignore it.  Another shot fired and then he crashed into a barricade, knocking over, stumbling, and then somehow, miraculously, keeping his feet.

It was dark outside, nothing but street lamps to light his way.  The harbor wasn’t far. He could make it!

He heard the screech of a car somewhere behind him and he had no idea if it was chasing him.  Every time he bolted through a streetlamp, Ray looked more and more gray. She was burbling and gasping, and her arms were slipping from his shoulders.  He held her tighter.

“I’m going to save you!  Ray, I’m going to get you back to the ocean, you’ll be okay, I promise.”

She couldn’t understand him, and yet he talked through the screaming of his lungs anyway.  His eyes were blurring— was he crying? How much farther was the harbor?

The streets faded into cobbled stone and he saw docks.  He ran. Someone shouted at him from far away, and he could hear a loud horn honk and a siren, but he kept running anyway.

He didn’t stop running until he was flinging himself off of the dock and both of them went crashing into the harbor.

The ocean was dark, black as pitch around him, and he couldn’t tell which way was up.  His grip slipped on Ray, and he couldn’t see her. Where— where was she? Ray, oh god, Ray, please be all right— 

The ocean lit up with stars, twinkling spots of light that ran all down Ray’s figure, and then Ray’s face was right in front of again and her lips were pressed over the top of his.

He wasn’t sure how long the kiss lasted— or if maybe he had imagined it.

But then his head burst over the top of the water and he gasped for breath, hair plastered over his eyes.  He felt Ray’s arms latched around his waist. She was pushing them powerfully back to shore.

“No, just go,” he gasped.  “Ray, please, just go. I can swim back, you have to run, you have to get away.”

He wondered if she would have listened even if she understood.  His back struck the back of a wooden dock and he grabbed for it, clinging to the support pole.

“Ray,” he gasped.  “Ray, are you still there?  Ray.”

Her head lifted from the water.

In the dark, she was even more beautiful than before.  Her skin had gone pitch black, and her face rippled with faint blues and greens, like an aurora playing over her skin, glowing softly.

For a moment, she pressed against him, her hands on his waist.

“I know you,” he whispered. “I know you, but I don’t know why.”

She hummed.  It sounded so, so sad and he choked on the lump in his throat.

“You remember me, don’t you?” he said.  “You remember me, from some place, or some time, and I don’t remember you.”

She kept humming and chirping, but he didn’t understand a word.

“This is going to sound ridiculous, but I think I love you,” he said.  “I wish you could understand me when I said that. I love you. Or at least I want to be able to love you.”

He heard voices over head, shouts, a faint siren.  They were looking for them. He released the pier with one hand to cup her face, and for a moment, she leaned into the touch.

“Go,” he whispered.  “Please.”

She hesitated.

Then the saddest keen rose up from somewhere in her chest, and he gasped, choking on the pain.  She disappeared beneath the waves, and hand touched nothing.

The police found him still hanging from the dock, crying softly into the sea.

_ “I’ll never see her again,” _ he whispered over and over.   _ “I’ll never see her again.” _


	6. Curse Six: I Don't Know You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Surprise
> 
> Ray has one more job to complete before she can get the hell out of the assassin's guild and start actually looking for her missing lover from another life. It's an easy one: take out a corrupt king who's been destroying his country and killing his citizens. But she's not prepared for who she finds under her knife.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> suicide tw

It would be an easy job.  The paranoid ones always were.  They covered all the obvious entries, the non obvious entries, and ended up leaving her with one perfect entry.  She didn’t have to worry about planning or deliberating over a thousand different possibilities: no, the paranoid targets were always the better ones.  They were so good at giving her the easy in.

Ray sucked in her chest and squeezed through the tiny slit at the top of the observatory tower.  There was no one in here; why would there be? No one had the time to look at stars when there were countries to invade.  And who would post a guard up here? It was the tallest tower in the whole goddamn palace, and it wasn’t even on the wall.  Someone would have to climb up sheer rock nearly a hundred and fifty feet into the air, and then to squeeze through a tiny arrowslit that a normal person wouldn’t be able to fit through.

Of course, that was exactly what Ray did.  She was very good at her job.

She rounded the huge, unused telescope in the middle of the room and headed for the stairs.  The door was locked, but it only took a bit of work to undo that. The stairs were thin and quiet, and there wasn’t any torchlight.  She felt her way down the stairs slowly. Others in the guild liked to brag about how quickly they could pull off a kill, but she knew better.  Assassins who moved too quickly got killed. There was no shame in taking it slowly.

She reached the bottom of the stairs and unlocked that door as well, listening for movement before she came through.  The halls were empty, but this one was well lit. Grandiose paintings of previous nobles in the family glowed between torches, ostentatious foreign flowers spilled out of hanging pots, shining armor that had never been worn lined the walls.  Somewhere down the hall, she could hear the echoing of raucous laughter and drunken jokes. The banquet was in full swing. It would be a few hours before the drunken guests tottered off to her their beds, and then...just get this one done, and she’d have enough money to finally buy her way out of the guild.  It wasn’t even unsavory. Take out the current reigning king, who regularly slaughtered entire villages for miniscule offenses, and his more moderate cousin would take over instead.

She slipped into work mode, and stopped thinking.   She made her way down the halls, watching for guards or servants.  There were a  _ lot  _ of guards.  She avoided them by ducking behind suits of armor and waiting for them to pass.  She could be as patient as she had to be. 

Without incident, she found her way into the royal quarters.  They were empty. Only the king lived here, after all, as he had no consort or children, and all of his guards would be in the halls and in the banquet hall.  Paranoid nobles were always so easy. They never posted guards on rooms they weren’t in.

She let herself into his room, locking it up behind her so that no one would suspect.  Then she turned and surveyed, looking for the best plan of attack.

It was much like any other noble’s room she had ever been in, but times three.  God, she could pay for her contract three times over with just the golden inlay in this place alone.  Maybe she should have taken up stealing instead.

She searched the room carefully for any hidden guards or traps.  Paranoid rulers were easy, but they were also sometimes unpredictable.

Oh?  What was that?

She frowned at the little carving on the nightstand.  It looked out of place with the rest of the decor: beautiful, to be sure, but it was whittled out of plain wood.  It was...it was a mermaid.

Her stomach twisted.  Vague images flittered over her mind and she squeezed her eyes shut.  No. Focus on the matter at hand. One more job, and then she was free.  Then she could...

She heard a noise outside, and remembered that she needed to hide.

She decided that simple was the best.  She hit the ground and rolled under the bed, grabbing at the bottom of the frame to hang underneath it.  If anyone looked under, if she was still enough, they’d see only the darkness beneath. Lightly, she tapped her boot against the bottom of the bed, checking to make sure her hollow boot still had the poison vial in it.  It was always good to have two options.

The sound turned out to be a false alarm, because no one opened the door.  Still, she maintained position. This was the waiting game.

At one hour and six minutes, the door finally opened.  She heard stumbling feet and a faint curse as feet tripped on fabric.

“I don’t care what they’re saying,” she heard the king slurring.  “Just make it  _ happen _ .”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” said another voice, and Ray sighed silently.  A second person would make things more complicated. “I will confirm with you in the morning.”

Good.  They were leaving.  She heard the door close.  For a moment, all she heard was muttering, drunken stuttering to himself.

And then she heard him punch the closet.  She winced at the sound of the wood crackling under his hand.  She was suddenly very glad she hadn’t chosen that hiding place.

“ _ Bastards! _ ” he shouted.  “Stupid, stupid, stupid— why won’t they just fucking listen— ”

He was very drunk.  That would make this easier.  She heard him kick something else and slur out more obscenities.

“I wouldn’t have to do this if they would just listen!” he shrieked.  “If they would just fucking listen to fucking reason!”

Another thunking sound of something being kicked.  She heard him stumbling and tensed up. She had to be alert for the perfect moment.

He hit the bed, shaking her slightly, but she didn’t move from her position.  She felt him falling back onto it, heard him gasping. Was....was he crying?

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled.  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I just want to do it right.  I’m doing what you all need. Why won’t you all listen?  Why won’t you just listen?”

He choked on his tears.  This was a good time. She carefully lowered herself from the bed and rolled silently out on the opposite side from where he had fallen.  She heard him shifting on the bed and hesitated, but when she glanced up, there was no movement on her side. She laid there for a moment, listening, until he seemed to come to a stop.  She heard his faint, drunken fumbling for something, knocking something against the table. 

“Tell me what I’m doing wrong,” he whispered, slurred.  “Please, I’m just trying to do it right, tell me what I’m doing wrong.  I just wish you were here.”

Ray licked her lips.  She rose herself onto her knees.  He was lying with his back to her on the bed, and...and he seemed to be cupping the little mermaid carving, turning it towards him.  She pulled her knife out of her thigh sheath.

In one fluid motion, as soon as she saw him moving to roll over, she was darting onto the bed, slamming her hand over his mouth, and pulling the knife to his throat— 

For the first time since her first mission, her knife missed.  She choked and stabbed the knife into the bed instead of into him.

Golden eyes stared up at her, wide and wild, red-rimmed from tears and alcohol.  Oh. Oh god. No. No, it couldn’t be.

The panic in his eyes melted into confusion, and he squinted up at her.  She saw his eyes flick to the carving on the table, and then back to her.

“No,” she gasped, her hand slipping off of him.

He broke into a wild, wondering smile.

“Ray?” he whispered, voice trembling. 

She couldn’t move.  She sat limp on his chest as he lifted up on arm, touching her cheek with one finger.  She shivered at the touch, memories of his hand cupping her cheek in another time and life striking her.

“No,” she whispered again.  “No, this wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“Ray, it’s you,” he gasped, a wild, crazed smile breaking over his face.  “It’s you, it’s you, I’ve been looking for you for ages!”

This wasn’t supposed to happen like this, oh god.  She was supposed to finish her last job, buy her way out, and then go looking for him, then go looking for a way to break their curse, she wasn’t— this wasn’t— 

_ It keeps getting us _ , she thought, her chest hollow and breathing thin.   _ I remember now, I made myself remember, and it keeps fucking us over even though I do.  When I remember him the first time, we can’t stay together. When I remember him the second time, he’s become this. _

“Say something,” the drunk, desperate, mad king begged beneath her.  “Ray, say something...”

“You’ve killed so many people,” was what came out of her lips.  “Why?”

Zarc stared up at her, wide eyed and disoriented.  Anger overtook her. How dare he look at her like that, like there was nothing wrong??  Like he hadn’t killed hundreds of thousands of people? She dropped her knife on the pillow and slammed both hands into his chest, making him choke.

“Why?” she said.  “Why, why, why?? What happened to you?”

He grabbed her wrists, face going red.

“They— they told me— too soft—” he slurred.  “They wouldn’t listen, no one would listen, so I made them listen, they  _ will _ listen— ”

“What happened to you?” Ray said, her voice raising up to an unprofessional shriek.  “I don’t even know you!”

“You weren’t here!” he screamed into her face, cheeks going red with anger.  “You couldn’t know, you weren’t here! I did what I— I’ve been doing what I have to do!”

She heard people in the hall outside; she was going to be discovered.  Tears stained her cheeks when she didn’t remember shedding them.

The man underneath her was unrecognizable.  The curse had stolen him from her again.

“They tried to— they tried to ruin me, ruin everything, so I killed them, I killed anyone who wouldn’t listen, I’ll kill you, too, if I have to— you were supposed to understand— ”

Ray shut him up by kissing him hard on the lips.  His breath sucked out of her when she slit his throat.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped.  “But I can’t let you live like this.”

She heard the door banging as someone tried to unlock it from the outside.  As his blood stained her hands, and he stared up at her with a fading, horrible betrayal, she reached back and opened up her hollow boot, pulling the poison out of it.

“I’ll see you on the other side,” she whispered.  “And we’ll try again. I won’t be distracted from breaking this curse again.”

As the door burst open, she tipped the vial between her lips and swallowed.  Then, sighing, she laid herself down beside him, tucking her head beside his while the blood seeped into the pillows.

“Good night, my love,” she whispered.  “We’ll try again next time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i promise this is the last time i will murder them off lol


	7. Curse Seven: Unknown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Trust
> 
> After remembering the curse that stalks her and her lover, Ray decides to throw everything she has in this life into learning how to break it by joining the most prestigious magic school in the world. When she's set to perform at a festival with a representative from her sister school, she's not sure if she should be surprised to find that Zarc had the same idea.
> 
> If they work together, can they break the curse this time?

“Fell asleep in the library again, huh?”

Ray jolted up in her seat.  Mieru was on the other side of the table, head resting on her hands and elbows on the table.  Ray put a hand to her forehead, blinking a few times. Her forehead hurt from where it had been pressed against her books.

“What time is it?” she gasped.

“Nearly ten in the morning.  You’ve got about three hours til your festival appearance.”

Ray swore, shooting to her feet and gathering up her materials, scooping the books and scrolls into her bag and hearing them fall endlessly into the expanded space within. Mieru grabbed one of Ray’s scrolls before she could snatch it and looked it over.

“Still working on this old curse?” she said. “Geez, you’re valedictorian, you’re representing the whole school at the festival, and you’re doing all of this extra stuff.  Where do you find the time?”

Ray snatched the scroll back from her, shooting her roommate a glare.

“It’s not your business,” she said.

“Then you shouldn’t have asked me to divine for you about it before,” Mieru said.

Ray sent her another glower.  

“You didn’t even have anything helpful to tell me.”

“Divining isn’t about telling things that are helpful, it’s about telling things that are true,” Mieru said.  “And the truth is, you’re stuck. The best way to get rid of a curse like you think you have is to just avoid the other half of the curse.”

Ray grit her teeth and looked away.  She stuffed the last of her scrolls into her bag.

“I won’t stop looking for him,” she said.  “I’ll find a way to break the curse, and then I’ll find him, and we’ll be all right again.”

“The hypothetical curse won’t even activate if you don’t cross paths with him.”

“The curse is real, all right!!  I joined this goddamn school for the sole purpose of breaking it, because I’m fucking  _ exhausted _ , Mieru, I’m so tired, I’m tired of waking up in a cold sweat remembering living a thousand different lives, I’m tired of living and dying just because of some curse for some crime that I don’t even remember committing, I’m tired of dragging him down with me, I’m tired of— of not even fully remembering him but only remembering loving him.”

She knotted her hands into her bag.  Fuck. She was starting to cry. She had three hours to prepare for her festival appearance and she was going to start sobbing.

Mieru bit her lip, tracing her finger around the table’s wood grain.

“I’m sorry,” she said.  “I was really rude. You love him a lot.”

Ray just shook her head, rubbing at her eyes with the heels of her palms.

“No, I...I overreacted.  You’re right, it does sound impossible.  A curse that follows reincarnated souls? I’ve never seen anything else like that in any of our studies.”

“But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible,” Mieru said.

She hesitated, and then she hopped up to her feet, her shoes clicking as she walked around the table.  She had to stand on her tiptoes to reach her, but she reached up and held Ray’s face in her hands.

“I know my divination didn’t help,” she said. “But I think...and I think you should trust me on this: I think that all of your hard work will pay off.  I think that a love that you remember from a hundred lives is going to last.”

Ray was actually crying, now, she couldn’t stop the tears from sliding down her cheeks.

“And I’m going to do whatever I can to help, because I think a love like that is really important,” she said.  “I’m actually almost a little jealous.”

She smiled a little bit, and let go of Ray.

“What do you think a curse like this needs to break?” Ray said.  “I don’t even remember my previous lives, so I don’t know what I’ve tried already.”

Mieru hummed to herself, thinking.

“Without knowing who cast the curse, it’ll be harder,” she said.  “But, we learn how dispel faceless hexes, so the concept should be mostly the same.”

She put her fist under her chin and closed her eyes.

“From a hypothetical standpoint, bearing in mind what my original tarot reading suggested,” she said.  “I think what you need...well, first, I think you need him.”

Ray nodded, thinking while Mieru did, too, trying to figure out what she needed.

“It’s a soul-curse, which for us is theoretical, but you seem to prove exists.  A soul-curse is hard. You’d need to completely write it out of the two of you, together.”

Ray swallowed.

“But that would mean...”

Mieru nodded.

“The curse connects you two, so...removing it...”

Ray inhaled sharply, closing her eyes.

“It would mean we both forget each other.”

~

Zarc twisted the ends of his robe, feeling stupid in the ridiculous tassels and bright colors.  

_ It’s school tradition _ , Sawatari had insisted as he forced the cloak over Zarc’s head.   _ I might not be able to represent the school like I  _ should _ be, but I’ll make sure that you don’t ruin the experience this much at any rate! _

Zarc snorted softly.  As if Sawatari’s half-assed magic would have been good enough to be selected for the festival anyway.  He stood up out of the chair and stretched. Outside, he could hear the sounds of music and laughter, people calling out wares, and he stung with a bit of disappointment.  

“I’ll be able to see the festival later,” he reminded himself, but it didn’t stop him from being miffed that, as the representative of his school, he had to stay in the tent and wait until the official opening ceremony.

Instead of moping, he decided to wander over to his chest and open it up, digging through it and finding his notebook.  It was huge, almost too big to wrap his whole hand around it, and bursting in the middle from all of the stuff he had shoved or pasted inside, hundreds of colored slips of paper poking out from all directions.  He flipped to the middle where a bright green piece of paper stuck out of the pages to mark the spot. He had a bit of time, and his spells for the opening ceremony would adlibbed, playing off of the representative from the other school, so he could work on his own project instead.

He pulled out a quill and started to scribble some more notes.  A curse like this...it was a doozy, and he wasn’t exactly the most attentive of students.  Theoretical curse breaking was a little over his head.

“So if the curse is soulbonded,” he muttered to himself.  “Fuck. I don’t think there’s a way around removing the memories along with the curse.”

But what if he altered this incantation right here, just a little?  It would be pretty dangerous, could just as easily remove his soul from the reincarnation cycle completely— which would be one way to break curse— but...it would leave a small loophole, if it did work, for the memories to reoccur naturally.  Maybe he could somehow sever the curse from the connection, or make a copy of the connection and add it to this part of the talisman so that it could be reactivated later, without the curse?

“Zarc!” Sawatari shouted, punching his head through the tent flaps.  “You’re up!”

Shit.  He shoved his book back into his trunk and leaped to his feet, almost tripping on the tassels of his stupid robe. Outside, he could hear the two headmasters introducing them.

“And now, as our yearly tradition of comradery between our two schools, our two selected representatives will join the stage and participate in a dual display.”

_ Showtime _ , he breathed, and stepped through the flaps, and onto the stage.

At the same time, the other representative hopped onto the stage.

At the same time, both of their eyes caught, and both of them froze.

“Oh,” Zarc said.

~

Ray’s words froze in her throat and choked her.  Oh.  _ Oh _ . 

_ Zarc, _ she thought, and her whole body shuddered.  The only thing she remembered clearly was his name, and his eyes, and the feeling of seeing him for the first time.  The other representative had all three of those things. It was him. And the way he was staring at her, she had a feeling that he knew her, too.

Immediately, her heartbeat exploded in her chest.

_ The curse _ , she thought, panicking.   _ We’ve met each other, we’ve finally found each other, the curse will come for us.  I’m not ready. My notes aren’t finalized; I don’t have everything simulated— _

He raised both hands upwards, and lights sparkled at his fingertips.  She blinked. The lights shot off from his hands like sparklers, and then exploded over his head in a flurry of fireworks.  For a moment, she just gaped.

Then she remembered the crowd all around the stage, staring at them, and saw him looking her in the eyes, and remembered.

_ We need to put on a show. _

She responded, lifting her hands and forming symbols in the air.  The remnants of his fireworks, still fluttering to the ground, caught in midair.  She twisted them, turning them into flower petals that swirled upwards into a wild, beautiful tornado, causing the crowd to ooh and ahh.  Zarc picked up after her, whispering a few words, and the fell back to earth, coating the ground, before congealing into several puddles that became crystals that jutted from the ground in brilliant, sparkling colors.

Ray’s spell caught the crystals next, turning their glimmers into pillars of light that turned into animals; tiny brilliant horses that spun and reared around their heads.  Zarc grinned. He pulled at the projections and they became tiny fairy dragons that zipped through the crowd and made children laugh as they ruffled hair. Ray reached for the still glowing crystals and put her hands onto the nearest ones, drawing the crystal up her arms like armor, and then letting it drip down onto the stage once again and turn into a small tree.  Zarc’s dragons zoomed back and alighted on the tree as it grew, bigger and taller and brighter, the dragons melting into blossoms that coated the branches with pinks and yellows.

He was good, she thought with excitement.  He took her spells and made them even more beautiful, played off of her perfectly without heavily imposing his own ideas, giving her something to work from that didn’t make her want to blow his spells away and start with her own.

He grinned at her from the other side of the tree, eyes sparkling.  He was having fun, too!

_ The curse _ , her treacherous heart reminded her.    _ It won’t let this last. _

An idea occurred to her.  Her half finished ideas for curse-breaking spells, releasing the two of them from the cycle of suffering— if he remembered her, and he was as good of a magician....had he been working on ways to break the curse, too?

She clapped her hands, and the flowers burst into colored dust, and then the leaves, and the tree itself.  She swirled the dust in a whirlwind before letting it alight on the ground in a mandala. It was her prototype magic circle, for divorcing the curse from their souls.

She caught his eyes.  They glimmered with a brief spurt of determination.

He knew what she was doing, and he was ready for it.

~

_ She’s incredible! _ he thought, thrumming with excitement.   _ Each new spell just opens itself up for another one. _

He had never worked this well with another magician before.  No one else had understood the thrum of the crowd, the way to feed their awe through partnership and the combination of spells, rather than trying to show off on their own.  He could build and bounce off of her spells without needing to try and pull her towards him, they were already on the same wavelength. He couldn’t believe it was really her!!  She was really here!

She clapped her hands, and their tree turned into beautiful colored sand that she spun and twirled.

When it fell into the magic circle shape, and she caught his eyes, he knew.  His heart fluttered.

_ We’re going to try and break a thousands of years old, soulbound curse that technically shouldn’t exist, in front of a whole crowd, _ he thought.

And then,  _ If this works...we’ll finally be able to meet without it hanging over us. _

He lifted his hands, and moved the magic circle, turning it into stained glass that lifted up like a mirror between them.  He altered it ever so slightly. She had nearly the same design as he did, with a few differences that he hadn’t thought of— but if he added this rune here...

Her eyes sparked on the other side of the glass and she responded to him immediately.  She pulled the black lining out of the stained glass, leaving the floating panes remaining where they were, and sent the black in a second magic circle on the opposite plane, like a ring around a planet.  Her runes began to dance along the edges, melting off of it like wax off a candle. He built more runes off of the other edges, wrapping the incantations around it as she continued to cause both circles to spin inside of each other, one horizontal, one vertical.

The crowd was cheering, but it sounded like a faint hum.  Zarc moved then, to the edge of the magic circle, and at the same time, so did Ray.  They put their hands on the edge and began to circle it, pulling more magic in through their free hands that cause lights and sparkles to dust around them, coating them with magic.  

He could feel her.  He could feel her soul.  It was cool, and fizzy, like a carbonated drink on his skin.  He saw her shudder and wondered if she felt the same.

Every time he passed the vertical stained glass magic circle, he saw her differently.  He saw a smaller, younger woman with three pairs of wings on her back. He saw a slender spirit with ice ghosting off of her shoulders.  He saw a girl in a rumpled shirt with bags under her eyes, a young, sickly looking woman in an old dress, a beautiful, color changing mermaid, a girl wrapped in all black and carrying a knife.

He melted the last bit of magic over his head, and examined the circle.  His heart thrummed with uncertainty.

This could work.  It was the most complete possible spell he could have imagined, something he couldn’t have created without her.

But it was missing one piece.  One piece that he was the most afraid to add.

He lifted his eyes and saw her through the glass, and saw the same fear.

~

She saw him differently each time she circled him, through the glass.  A silver-scaled demon. A fiery being with skin that cracked and glowed like magma.  A thin, emaciated ghost. A desperate looking man in woodcutter’s clothes, a rumpled boy with a camera on his chest, a king with red-rimmed eyes.  She saw him from each of their lives, lives she only barely remembered, lives were all she knew was that she loved him.

She came to a stop once more and saw him as he was now, through the glass.  In the back of her mind, she could hear their headmasters whispering worriedly.  The crowd thought it was just a show, but they, they probably knew what kind of massive spell this was, and how dangerous it could be.

_ We could both die, right here on this stage _ , she thought.   _ The curse could catch us, that way, so close to breaking it. _

Her heart thrummed as she caught the look of nervousness in his eyes, and knew that wasn’t why they were scared.

_ It needs one more piece. _

_ The piece that will take the curse out of us. _

_ The piece that caused us to always meet and remember loving each other. _

Their curse determined their suffering by bringing them together and then ripping them apart.

Without the curse, they might not remember anything.  They might not even cross paths again. Their connection would sever.

_ Suffer forever? _ she thought, mirroring him as he began to slowly move his hands in the motions that would add the last piece.   _ Suffer forever, together?  Or lose each other, forever? _

She didn’t know.  She didn’t know. She had to either finish the spell with him, or sabotage it now.

For a moment, both of them hesiated in their mirrored movements.  His eyes caught hers. He was scared. As scared as she was. She hadn’t even heard his voice in this life yet.  Her eyes blurred briefly with tears.

She blinked them away and caught his eyes again.  He was mouthing something. Not a spell. Words.

_ Trust me _ , he was saying.   _ Trust me. _

Her breath caught.  It was only two words, but she felt them rattle her very soul.  Trust him to still remember. Trust him to still find her. Trust herself to remember, to find him again.  

Trust that after everything they’d been through, they’d find each other again, curse or no curse.

She nodded.  She lifted her hands along with him and they both added the last section to the magic circle.

Then, before she could hesitate, she ran.  She ran forwards, through the black circle, towards the stained glass, and he ran, too, straight towards her.  The two circles spun so fast that for a moment, neither of them could see a thing. She wondered if she screamed his name.  She was running for so long, there was no way it was taking this long to get there.

His hands grabbed hold of hers and then she heard the glass shattering.

For a moment, the world was white.

~

Mieru stood straight up, making someone behind her curse at her for getting in the way.  She knew that circle, she’d seen Ray drawing versions of it for her curse. And when it shattered into a pillar of brilliant light, making the entire crowd cheer, Mieru knew for certain.  That other representative, Zarc— that was him, that was the soul that Ray had been chasing for so long!

Had...had it worked?  Had the two of them managed to break the curse?  Her hands twitched to divine something, but she couldn’t do it in the middle of the screaming crowd, too distracting.

The light faded, and Ray and Zarc appeared in the middle of it.  They had their arms wrapped around each other, faces buried in each other’s shoulders.  She could see them trembling slightly, probably from the excess of magic. They had really done quite a show!

Mieru fidgeted, standing on her tiptoes to see.  Did...did they do it? Did they break it?

Did they remember each other?

Both of them slowly opened their eyes.  Then, they seemed to realize what they were doing, and flushing, both of them leaped back, hands out.  They stared at each other for a moment, blinking.

Mieru couldn’t tell.  Oh geez. She was just going to have to ask.

~

Zarc blinked at the young woman in front of him, blushing.  Had he really just grabbed her during the performance? Geez, he had totally let himself get carried away.

She was blushing, too, and he could still remember how tight her grip had been, so maybe it wasn’t all his fault.

The crowd roared with approval, and that startled him out of his reverie.  He shook his head, and turned to smile at the crowd, bowing. She did, too, after a half beat, bobbing up and down once.  She looked really winded. Damn, though, that had been some performance.

“That was incredible,” he said, smiling at her.

His mind twisted a bit, the way his stomach might if it was empty.  He felt a little off kilter looking at her. She looked back him with a similar expression.  Then she smiled, and he felt...light.

He stuck out his hand.

“You were great,” he said.  “I’m Zarc, by the way! You’ve got to teach me some of those spells you used.”

“If I can remember them,” she laughed, reaching out to accept his hand.  “It all seems like such a blur! But you were great, too. I’m Ray.”

He had the faintest feeling of deja vu.  But it faded, quickly, and he just grinned.

“I’m glad to meet you, Ray,” he said.  “Let’s be friends from now on!”


	8. Curse Eight: We Are Eternal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Risk
> 
> We took the risk, we discarded our memories of each other for the chance to live uncursed. But does that mean we'll never meet again?

_ It was a pretty big risk we took, you know. _

**You don’t have to tell me twice.**

_ Our life wasn’t too bad this time, right?  We had a lot of good times. _

**A lot of them...I wouldn’t trade them for anything.**

_ Starting over wasn’t even all that hard, huh? _

**Not as scary as I thought it would be.**

_....Ray? _

**Zarc?**

_ Do you think we’ll meet each other in the next life?  Nothing is pulling us together this time. There’s no curse, trying to force us to come together so that it can fuck us over.  Without that...without those memories...do you think we’ll see each other again? _

**....I wish I could have an answer for you.**

_ I mean, I don’t mind if I don’t remember.  Starting over with you again is fine. But the idea of never seeing you again... _

**We...if we don’t remember, we won’t remember that we don’t see each other.**

_ I know that!  But... _

**No, I know...I get it...**

_ I’m scared, Ray.  I love you. _

**Even if I never see you again, I’ll always love you.  I promise that. This life...it was a good run, right?  Doing magic shows together. Having fun. Getting to know each other from the beginning.  Falling in love.**

_ It was, it....it really was. _

**If...if that’s all we get then...I still think it was worth it. Don’t you?**

_ I...yes.  I think it was.  I mean...we knew the risk.  At least we don’t have to cry forever anymore, right?  You promise you won’t cry too much without me? _

**Don’t flatter yourself that much.**

_ Hey! _

**I’m kidding.  I love you, Zarc.**

_ I love you, Ray. _

**Even if we don’t see each other again...it was fun.  It was fun knowing you, and loving you, even through all the hardships and the bad times...it was worth it.**

_ I will see you again.  I promise. Whatever it takes, our souls will cross again.  We don’t need a curse to bring us together. _

**Having you around for eternity seems like enough of a curse to me.**

_ Hey!  Don’t tease me like that.  I’m crying over here. _

**I’m crying too.**

**I love you.  So goddamn much.**

_ I love you more. _

**Don’t play that game with me today.**

_ Don’t cry, Ray.  I told you. We’ll see each other again. _

**I’m scared.**

_ Me too.  But once we see each other again, I promise, I’ll give you the biggest hug, and remind you that there was nothing to be afraid of.  That the risk was worth taking. _

**I’m holding you to that promise.**

_...until next time? _

**Until next time, my love.**

**_See you soon._ **

~

The small crowd in the stands screamed and cheering, waving a few signs around while Ray took the practice shot.  It sunk into the net with a satisfying swish, and she grinned as she hit the floor again and shuddered from the impact up her ankles.  Her hair stuck to her face from the well-earned sweat, and she had to shove it out of her face.

“Nice one, Akaba-senpai!” Sayaka said, smiling her usual sweet smile.  She took a little note on her manager’s clipboard and smiled brightly while Ray jogged back over, accepting a clap on the back from one of the other girls.  “The other team for the exhibition match should be here soon.”

“Exhibition match??  Hell no, this is full out war!” Selena whooped from the other side of the bench, and a few other girls cheered.

“D-don’t overexert yourselves!” Sayaka said.  “Remember it’s not an official match...”

“That doesn’t matter, we’re gonna pummel the You Show kids into the ground,” Rin said, sticking her tongue out.  “Those poor boys won’t know what hit them!”

Selena whooped again and the pair of them high fived.  Ray chuckled and accepted the water bottle that Yuzu tossed to her with a wink.

“Ray-senpai!” someone in the stands shouted, waving.  “Raaay-senpai!”

Ray flushed and ducked her head behind her bangs.

“Come on, give your fan club a smile,” Ruri teased, pushing her playfully.

“Someone’s got a sign asking you to marry them today,” Grace said with a very, very mischevious grin.

“Something tells me you had something to do with that,” Ray said, rolling her eyes.

She gave the tight clump of shuffling girls a half-hearted wave, and flushed again at the yelps and squeals.  She quickly seated herself on the bench with her back to the stands, tugging the collar of her basketball uniform.  Grace laughed as she flopped down next to her.

“Somebody’s not good at being popular~” she teased, pinching Ray’s cheek.

Ray groaned and waved her off.

“I didn’t ask for them to do it,” she muttered.  “I don’t understand why it’s me. Look at me, I’m all gross and sweaty.”

“Sweetheart, some people are into that,” Grace said, sticking out her tongue.  “And besides, darling, who wouldn’t want a piece of you? Valedictorian, captain of the basketball team, a dazzling stage performer...”

“That was  _ one _ time, and it was because  _ you _ forced me into it.”

“Sweetheart, it was because you were  _ perfect _ .  You should have stayed with the drama club.”

“I’m not a masochist like you, trying to do a sport  _ and _ drama.”

Grace just winked, pushed Ray on the shoulder, and popped up from the bench.

“Well, if you want them to leave off, you’d better get yourself a partner, darling, and make yourself unavailable.”

She spun and put her face right up close to Ray’s grinning.

“You could always date me, you know,” she said.  “I might be in the market.”

Ray snorted.  She rolled her eyes and pushed Grace backwards playfully.

“Where would I have  _ time _ for that?” she said, laughing.  “Besides, I’d hate to get in the way of your grand plan to seduce Ruri.”

“Shh, she doesn’t know about that yet,” Grace said, before very pointedly slinging her arm around Ruri’s shoulders where she sat on the bench beside them.

“If you’re going to cheat, Gracie, you could at least pretend to be sneaky about it,” Ruri laughed before twining her fingers into Grace’s on her lap and twisting over to kiss her.

Ray laughed and rolled her eyes, but she felt that familiar, sneaking sense of loneliness crawling over her at the sight of the happy couple.  She wasn’t...jealous, she didn’t think. There was just this soft ache in her chest whenever she saw couples holding hands or kissing or something.  

_ I don’t need a partner, _ she told herself.   _ I don’t even really want one right now!  I don’t have time in between all the other things I’m doing _ ....

“Hey, the boys are here!”

A couple people in the stands shouted, and the group that had shown up for the annual exhibition basketball match  _ just _ to catch a glimpse of the kids from the all boys school stood up almost at the same time.  They stretched up on tiptoes and yelped and hissed at each other trying to get a look. Ray rolled her eyes.  This was her third and last match with the You Show Boy’s Academy on the other side of town from her own LDS Girl’s Academia, and it was kind of a pain in the butt.  She wasn’t even sure how their two schools had started this tradition, but the boys were always loud, obnoxious, smelly, and, well, sexist as fuck. She was looking forward to pummeling their asses again, but that was all she cared about.  To hear some of the squealing in the stands, you’d think that some of these girls had never seen a boy before in their lives.

She stood up, setting her waterbottle down on the bench and cracking her back.  Sayaka was already talking to Yuzu about strategy, and she heard Coach Asuka clapping for attention, but she kept her eyes on the raucous crowd of boys in maroon uniforms laughing and pushing each other as they came through the doors into the basketball court.

She smirked, folding her arms.  They all looked like they already weren’t taking it seriously.  One of them wolf whistled at the stands, making a few girls either swear or squeal.  Most of them looked ridiculously relaxed, as though this were going to be the easiest game of their lives.  They never learned, did they?

Her eyes flickered through the ranks of the other team, trying to size them up, when her eyes caught on something and...stuck, for a moment.  She couldn’t quite put her finger on why. A shock of silver hair poked out from the crowd, and then the owner finally pushed his way through.  He was sort of grinning, but he looked far less enthused than the rest of the group, and his eyes glanced over to the other side.

When his golden eyes caught hers, he froze, too.  Ray felt something in her heart catch and stutter.  What the heck?

And before she could quite comprehend what was happening, the silver-haired boy was bolting across the court towards her.  She dropped her arms to her sides, briefly freaking out. Why was he running at her??

And then he threw his arms around her in the biggest, warmest hug she’d ever felt.  He was just a hair shorter than her, so her head came over his shoulder, but she could feel his heartbeat against her own chest and...and oh.  This...this strange boy was hugging her, like they had known each other forever. And...she didn’t feel weird about it? In fact, her arms moved automatically to hug him back, as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

And then both of them, as one, seemed to realize what they were doing, and they both leaped backwards, arms out, faces heated to red.  The boy with the silver hair stared at her with his mouth hanging open for a long, long second. Not that she could have thought of anything to say, either.

“I— ah!  I’m sorry,” he said, fumbling. “I’m— I wish I could say I like, mistook you for someone, but I honest to god am not sure why I did that.  It was like some kind of really werid, uh...gut reaction. Uh— that probably sounds like a lie but uh— ”

“Um, it’s okay,” Ray mumbled, feeling her very ears go red to the tips.  “I...I mean, uh, you didn’t feel me up or anything, it was just a hug, so uh...no big.”

He was so red that it made his hair look white by comparison.  Somewhere behind her, tangled up in her frazzled senses, she could hear the rest of her team muttering and gasping at each other, and she was pretty sure she heard someone in her fan club make a very loud sound of protest.

They probably would have stood there staring at each other forever with faces redder than a sunset if Coach Asuka hadn’t finally reached them, clapping her hands to break them out of the trance.

“Well!” she said, smiling a little uncertainly at them.  “Good to know that you...know each other already?”

“I don’t think we do,” Ray said.

“Uh, yeah, don’t think we’ve met,” the boy mumbled.

Asuka blinked at them in confusion.

“Well, then...one way or another, Ray, this is your opposing captain, Sakaki Zarc.  Zarc, this is Akaba Ray.”

“Hi,” Zarc squeaked.  “Oh!”

He hurriedly thrust his hand out for a handshake, as though he had nearly forgotten.  Ray tried her best to bite back the laugh, but it came out anyway. She gasped and put her hand over her mouth, reaching out with the other to accept the handshake.  But she couldn’t help it! This was the most  _ surreal _ experience she had ever been through.

When her hand grasped his, she felt the slightest bit of electricity.  That strange faint ache in her chest seemed to lift.

“Well, uh, it’s nice to meet you,” she said.  “Let’s have a good match.”

Zarc’s entire face lit up when he smiled, and she felt her heart skip a beat.

“Nice to meet you too,” he said.  “Let’s have a  _ great _ match!”

~

_ I told you I’d give you a hug. _

**You’re impossible.**

_ Love you too.  That was a pretty good life, huh? _

**We had a great, long one.  It was good to see you again.  Even if I didn’t remember.**

_ The risk was worth it. _

**It was.**

_ Well... _

**Well...until next time.**

_ Until next time. _

**_See you in the next one._ **


End file.
